


The Lost Son

by DatoPotato



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Big Brother Damian Wayne, Protective Damian Wayne
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23647078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatoPotato/pseuds/DatoPotato
Summary: AU where Talia leaves Damian at an orphanage in Gotham when he’s five. Damian hasn’t been told about his Father and Bruce hasn’t been told about his son. Chaos ensues. Here are their stories.
Comments: 40
Kudos: 219





	1. Part One

Talia knelt down in front of Damian. She checked their surroundings once more before looking at her child, “Damian, my son, you must be strong.”

Damian nodded, not understanding what was going on exactly, but knowing that his mother was only protecting him, “I will, Mother.”

Talia breathed out and nodded, one of the few remaining loyal assassins placed a hand on her shoulder. A reminder.

“I shall return. I cannot promise when, but until then, keep yourself hidden,” she told him as she gently brought her lips to his forehead. Damian gave her a curt nod and Talia couldn’t help but think about how much he truly was his Father’s son, even without knowing it. For a moment, she considered driving him the extra hour to the manor and dropping him off there, but the hand on her shoulder once again reminded her. She sighed and took one last look at her son as the car drove away from the orphanage.

Once the car was out of sight, Damian took a deep breath and turned to the door which looked a lot more ominous than it had a moment before. There was a flash of light to his left followed by the rolling of thunder. Damian couldn’t help but think it was fitting. He shivered against the cold, or at least that’s what he told himself the reason was, not that he was scared. He would have no one to rely on, not that he hadn’t been trained to deal with these situations, but he always had people he could go to after. In this, after was indefinite. He had no way of knowing when he’d see his mother again, if ever.

Damian shook his head as if shaking the very thoughts from his mind. He turned to the door once more, steeling himself as he brought his tiny fist to it and knocked. He waited for a few moments, soon rustling and murmured voices sounded from the other side of the door. It swung open to reveal an older woman in a nightgown, a confused, clearly annoyed look on her face as she studied the small boy.

The old woman’s face softened, “Dear, what’re you doing here?” she asked softly.

Damian shifted his feet, unsure of how to answer her, “Mother told me to wait here until she returned,” he decided to tell the truth, not the whole truth, but enough that she’d let him stay.

The woman stuck her head outside, looking for Damian’s mother no doubt, before she turned her attention back to the child, “Alright, well let’s get you inside first.”

She guided Damian inside and to what seemed to be a kitchen. She motioned for Damian to sit down at the table. When the boy didn’t make any move to sit, she pulled the chair out, “Sit,” she commanded him. Damian frowned at her words but did as he was told.

The woman joined Damian at the table, two steaming mugs in her hands, “Well, I suppose we should start with names,” she tapped the table with her nails, “I’m Janet Norwell.”

Damian nodded, “Damian.”

Janet cocked her head, “Damian...?” she prompted him.

“Al--” he stopped himself short and Janet raised an eyebrow, “Alistair.”

The woman sighed heavily, “Alright then, Damian Alistair, what’s your mom’s name?”

Damian took a sip of the steaming liquid, “Dunno,” he said vaguely. He made a face into the mug, the sweet liquid completely foreign to him.

“Too much chocolate?” Janet asked as she took a sip of her mug, “Usually the kids will beg me to add more.”

Damian shrugged and took another sip.

The next day, Damian was introduced to the other children. He was totally and completely out of his element as the younger ones crowded him, bombarding him with questions while the adults cooed over how adorable he was.

The first week was absolute hell for Damian. He had been trained by some of the most deadly assassins in the world, yet he was more terrified of the small children who would climb on him or ask him to read them stories or draw with them. No matter where Damian hid, somehow they would find him. It was unsettling, to say the least.

Shortly after Damian’s sixth birthday, Janet enrolled him in school, much to Damian’s protests. It didn’t take long for a phone call to be made to the orphanage, suggesting they enroll Damian in Gotham Academy. That night when he got back from school, Janet sat him down and they discussed how best to handle his situation. Damian was soon offered a full scholarship to the academy and graduated three years after.

——————————

“Damian!” Janet’s voice rang through the house. Damian sighed and heaved himself off his bed and down the stairs.

Aurora, one of the younger kids, poked her head through the banister as Damian descended the steps, “Is Dami in trouble?” she asked softly getting his attention.

He smiled up at her, through the time he’d been at the orphanage, he had certainly gained a small soft spot for the kids.

“I doubt it, little one,” he paused for a moment, looking at the small child, “And stop leaning through the railing, you’re gonna get stuck,” he chided as she nodded and ran back to the kids’ room.

Damian entered the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket, “Oh good,” Janet said, eyeing him sideways, “Can you go into town to grab milk? I forgot to get some earlier.”

Damian rolled his eyes, earning a tap on his head from Janet’s wooden spoon, “Why can’t Grace? She’s supposed to be here today isn't she?” Damian was pretty sure he had seen her on the daytime schedule.

Janet sighed, “Yes, she is, but she had to go home early. Said she wasn’t feeling well.”

Damian nodded and headed for the door. Janet threw a coin purse in his direction as Damian caught it without looking. Although he didn’t use his ‘talents’ as he did in the past, he still trained to keep himself sharp. He knew Janet knew he would often leave during the night to train either in the surrounding forest or during his ‘strolls’ in town, but she never said anything. Janet never asked any questions after the first night, and once when she asked about Damian’s father, but Damian didn’t have to lie when he said he didn’t know.

“Be back soon,” he told the lingering kids who all nearly took him down to the ground with the force of their hugs.

So perhaps he had developed a rather large soft spot for them. Damian had definitely struggled the first few months he was left with Janet and the other kids, he didn’t understand how they played and when he had tried to join, he would often end up hurting them. As he got used to holding his strength back when he was with them, he began to care for them as something of an older brother figure. They had become his family, more than his real one. Damian couldn’t help but wonder if his mother was ever actually coming back for him Part of him hoped she would never return. 

Damian grabbed his bicycle from the back of the large house.

He had been at the orphanage for nearly five years, seen a lot of kids come and go, even had a few people who wanted to adopt him, but he quickly declined and asked them to consider one of the others. Thanks to Damian, the small orphanage had gained a great deal of fame due to his academic achievements and the kids that lived there were often quickly adopted, leaving Damian as the now oldest resident. It helped that they were also on the outskirts of Gotham, keeping them a good distance away from the city and crime.

Damian dismounted his bike and locked it to one of the streetlamps. He walked into the small convenience store, the chime above the door alerting Mrs. Williams to his arrival, “Hello, Damian, what is it tonight?” she asked him pleasantly as he grabbed the milk.

Damian stopped at the front counter and handed her the money, “Nothing for me, Janet needs some milk.”

Mrs. Williams nodded her head, “Good of you to come and get it for her, wish my grandkids were half as good,” the old lady sighed and shook her head as she handed his change to him, “Hurry back now child, you know how it gets after dark in this damn place.”

Damian nodded and shoved the milk into his backpack. As he exited the store, he huffed out a breath, the cold air making his breath visible and got his key out for his lock before stopping short.

“Really?” he breathed looking at the cut cable that had secured his bike to the lamp barely two minutes prior. Damian looked down the streets to find the culprit and quickly spotted him. 

A man, much too large for Damian’s small bike, was attempting to escape while riding it. Damian shook his head before taking off in a sprint to catch him. This wasn’t the first time he had stopped a thief, the first time was shortly after he had been left with Janet, while he was on a walk one sleepless night. Since then, whenever he couldn’t sleep, he would walk the streets and if he happened upon some lowly scumbag preying on someone, he’d take the opportunity to train.

The man on Damian’s bike turned down an alleyway, Damian following close behind. When the man got off, Damian cleared his throat, “You mind giving me my bike back?”

The man chuckled, “Really? You’re asking me for your bike back?” the man grinned as he flicked out a blade and Damian sighed, he did give the idiot a chance.

“Fine.”

The man lunged, knife ready, but Damian easily dodged. The man swung his knife wildly and probably would’ve done some serious damage, had he not been up against Damian. He dodged lazily, tiring the man out before he sent his fist into the man’s temple. The man fell to his knees and finally flat on his stomach. Damian scoffed at him and sent a solid kick into his side. For good measure.

Damian grabbed his bike from where it was leaning against one of the buildings when he suddenly felt his senses screaming that someone was there. He whipped around, getting low and sticking his foot out to sweep the spectator’s feet. The person yelped and fell to the ground with a satisfying thud. Damian readied himself in a fighting stance.

“Wait! Wait a second!” the person shouted, a hand in the air. Damian finally looked carefully at the person as they stood up, dusting their uniform off. The boy couldn’t have been more than thirteen or fourteen, judging by his height, and was dressed in a red spandex suit, complete with a cape and an R that anyone in Gotham would recognize.

“Oh, you’re Robin,” Damian said letting his hands fall at his sides as he picked his bike back up. The other boy seemed to be frozen in place as Damian turned back to him, giving him a look of disapproval, “Perhaps next time, show up before they pull a knife.”

Damian started out of the alley when Robin placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Damian, being trained thoroughly since young, grabbed Robin’s hand and flipped him over his head.

Robin coughed as he lifted himself off the ground, again, as Damian sighed and offered his hand.

“Thanks,” Robin said with a light chuckle.

“Sorry about that,” Damian said, not looking the other boy in the eyes, “Habit.”

Robin nodded, “Oh, yeah, totally get it.”

They stood in awkward silence for a few moments, “So,” Robin started, “where’d you learn that stuff?”

Damian felt a little uncomfortable standing face to face with the masked boy, “My mother taught me.”

Robin nodded, “Oh, nice! I’ve uh, actually seen you around here a few times,” he said sheepishly.

Damian hummed in response. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say nor where the boy wonder was going with his words.

Robin cleared his throat, “Anyway, you’re not too bad,” he smiled at the smaller boy.

Damian scoffed, “And you could use some more work,” Damian mused, a smirk forming on his lips.

Robin laughed, “Yeah, well I guess I was a bit thrown off guard. I wasn’t expecting a small child to--”

“Kick your ass?” Damian finished for him, full-on grinning.

Robin was clearly taken aback by the child’s words, but soon he wore a similar grin, “Yeah, maybe we should go again?” he challenged.

Damian was quite curious to see how it would go, but the weight in his backpack reminded him, “Sorry, perhaps another night, I have to return.”

Robin nodded, “Sure, whenever you feel like you can take me on, I’ll be waiting.”

Damian chuckled as he mounted his bike, “Just make sure you have bandages,” he shouted behind him as he sped back to the orphanage.

“What in the world took you so long?” Janet questioned angrily from the doorway of the orphanage.

Damian rubbed his neck sheepishly, “Sorry, I got distracted?” he tried as innocently as he could.

Janet huffed and guided him inside.

Damian grinned widely when he saw Aurora waddling towards him. He scooped her up in his arms as her giggles echoed off the walls, “Guess who I met,” he whispered to her.

Her eyes went wide, “Baman?” she asked softly, mispronouncing the vigilante’s name. Damian shook his head and Aurora tilted her head to the side, “Who?”

Damian smiled gently as he strapped her into her highchair, “Robin.”

——————————

Tim stood in the alleyway a moment longer, still a bit dazed from his meeting with the weird kid. He was quickly taken out of his thoughts as the grunts from behind him told him that the bike thief was awake. Before Tim could turn around, there was a solid thud, and he almost dreaded turning around to face who it might be.

“Hey, B’s asking where you’re at,” Dick said as he tapped Tim’s shoulder, “I’ll make sure this guy gets to the GCPD, but you’d better get over to him quick.”

Tim sighed in relief and mumbled a thanks to Dick as he made his way back to the cave.

“You’ve been going off on your own an awful lot these days,” Bruce began when Tim entered.

“Yeah, well, I’ve found someone interesting.”

This caught Bruce’s attention. He turned in his chair and raised an eyebrow, “Interesting how?”

Tim chuckled as he removed his mask, “You’re gonna wanna see this.”

——————————

Parker tapped gently on Damian’s door, taking his focus off of the assignment Damian had been working on for one of his online classes. He had been offered full scholarships to multiple universities but because he didn’t want to leave the orphanage yet, he declined and only does special online classes.

“What is it, Parker?” Damian called from his desk.

There was a small gasp on the other side as the door slowly inched open, “How did you know?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Damian chuckled at the child and motioned for him to come closer, “I could tell from you footfalls,” he told him honestly.

Parker stared wide-eyed, “Teach me?”

Damian shook his head, “You have something else you want from me?”

“Not really,” Parker whispered. Damian plucked the book the boy held in his hands, it was his sketchbook. The other kids enjoyed arts and crafts but Parker was particularly interested in drawing and when he saw Damian’s drawings, he couldn’t help but become entranced.

“You want to draw in here with me until bed?”

Parker’s face lit up, “Can I?”

Damian nodded his head, “No fair! Me too!” Aurora complained from the doorway.

“Yes, Aurora, you too then, come on,” Damian motioned for her to come in too.

It didn’t take long for Aurora to get bored and start bringing in storybooks for Damian to read to her. In no time, both the children were fast asleep on Damian’s bed as he sighed, looking over them.

“You know, they see you as an older brother,” Janet told him as she picked Parker up.

Damian nodded and smiled, scooping up Aurora who latched on to his arm, “I know.”

“Parker’s teacher said he’s been getting along better with his classmates too.”

Damian smiled at the child in Janet’s arms. He saw a lot of himself in the small child, especially when he had first been brought to the orphanage. Parker was always angry and got violent with the other kids, he wasn’t even allowed to be left at school for full days because there weren’t enough people to look after him.

“That’s good.”

Janet nodded thoughtfully, “There’s a family coming from Central City next week to meet him.”

Damian took that in. He was happy Parker would have a chance at a better life, but it was always bittersweet whenever any of the kids left.

After Janet and Damian tucked the kids into their rooms, Damian stretched, “Going on a walk?” Janet asked.

Damian nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be back later, don’t wait up,” he smiled at her.

Janet smiled back and shook her head, “You know I will.”

Damian grabbed his bike and headed into the city. He found himself in the same alleyway he had seen Robin last and looked around, perhaps he’d be there?

When he didn’t see him, he looked up towards the roof of the buildings. After locking his bike up with the spare lock, he ascended the building, making his way to the rooftop. He forgot how much he enjoyed high places.

As he took in the night view, he felt someone behind him. Damian turned around quickly, seeing one of the other Bat-related vigilantes, “Oh, hey, you must be the kid Robin talked about,” the man said with a chuckle. From his black suit and blue V-shaped bird, he could tell who he was.

“Nightwing,” Damian greeted and gave him a curt nod. Nightwing cocked his head to the side, a little surprised, no doubt.

“You sure are a weird kid,” he laughed.

Damian was about to retort when Robin glided down from another building, “Ah, memory cloth,” Damian nodded to Robin’s cape as he landed and it turned back to a normal-looking fabric.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Robin asked.

Damian shrugged, “Seen it before.”

Nightwing seemed to want to ask him something else but Robin cut him off, “So, you wanna spar?”

Damian chuckled at the other boy and readied himself as Nightwing shook his head and mumbled something to himself.

——————————

Bruce sat in his chair in front of the Batcomputer as Alfred brought tea over to him. He was watching a video of what seemed to be a hotel exploding on repeat.

“Nothing on cable?” Alfred mused from behind him.

Bruce hummed in response before stopping the video and turning to Alfred, “Talia was apparently in that building.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow, “And?”

Bruce turned back to the screen, “And although they haven’t found a body, it appears that she may have been caught in the explosion.”

Bruce was surprised enough to hear of the death of Ra’s, but to think that Talia had also perished was a bit alarming, he wasn’t sure how to feel about it exactly.

——————————

Damian and Robin had been training together for a few weeks, and Damian could tell that the older boy was certainly well trained, he was not trained enough to defeat him, though he wasn’t sure if Robin was simply holding back.

They both dangled their feet off the building, taking in the cityscape.

Damian sighed, “My mother is dead,” he told Robin suddenly.

Robin went stiff, unsure of what he was meant to say or do. Damian had done the same when he had come across the information himself. Every once in awhile, Damian would do a search through government databases, illegally, of course, to see if anything came up for his mother, and a couple of weeks ago, he got a hit.

“I’m sorry,” Robin said awkwardly. Damian shrugged, “Wanna talk about it?”

Damian thought for a moment. Robin didn’t know Damian was truly an al Ghul, and he intended to keep it that way. He didn’t know Robin’s true identity, though he wasn’t particularly interested in it either.

“No.”

Robin nodded, “Alright, well, I’ll just stay here then.”

Damian nodded, thankful to have some semblance of a friend. He wasn’t all that broken up about his mother, but she was still his mother, and she promised she’d come back for him.

A part of him was relieved. With his mother gone, he had a chance at a semi-normal, semi-peaceful life.


	2. Part Two

Janet adjusted the bowtie around Damian’s neck, “Janet,” he choked, “You’re killing me.”

“Oh, hush, it’s not that bad,” she swatted his arm as she made some final adjustments, “You look absolutely charming!” she gushed as she stepped back.

“Wow, Dami! You look so fancy!” the now six-year-old Aurora squealed.

Damian ruffled her hair and smiled, “Thanks, Rory. Too bad you can’t come with me.”

Aurora pouted, “Yeah, why’d they only invite you?”

“Because I’m smarter and prettier,” Damian said matter-of-factly with a shrug of his shoulders.

Janet swatted his arm again and turned to Aurora, “They invited Damian because of his stupid brain,” she told her.

Aurora nodded, “’Cause of his stupid brain,” she repeated.

Damian scoffed, “I’ll have you know, my brain is very smart. I have three degrees, and--”

Janet rolled her eyes at him and Aurora giggled, “Yes, you’re unemployed at the tender age of twelve, how impressive. Off with you now, no doubt your ride’ll be here any second.”

Damian nodded and huffed out a breath before heading out the door where a limousine was waiting.

The event was being held in Gotham Academy, courtesy of Gotham’s resident big shot, Bruce Wayne. A bunch of smart people were invited, including some of Damian’s previous professors, but Damian himself was hardly interested. It wasn’t until Janet threatened to kick him out of the home that he accepted the invitation.

When he arrived, reporters were already swarming and Damian immediately regretted his decision. He could survive on the streets. Perhaps he could still turn back? Once some of the professors noticed him, he was crowded by them all, questions and theories being thrown about.

After Damian had finally managed to escape the gaggle of people, he stayed on the sidelines of the party, simply waiting until enough time had passed so he was able to leave without drawing too much attention.

Damian observed the other people at the party, his attention being drawn to the large form of Bruce Wayne. Damian had heard a lot about Wayne, but that was his first time seeing him in person and he had to say, he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Every move he made seemed so forced and faked, he didn’t understand how no one else saw it. There were two young men who lingered close to the billionaire who Damian assumed must be the two, living, adopted sons. One of them, the younger one was looking around the room until his eyes met Damian’s and the boy smiled before heading over to him.

Damian sighed and readied himself as the boy came within greeting distance, “Hi there, Damian Alistair,” he introduced himself.

The other boy met Damian’s hand halfway, “Timothy Drake-Wayne,” he told him. Damian froze, “These things can get so boring, huh? Especially when there’s no one your age,” the other boy chuckled.

Damian turned his face to him, “Yeah, I suppose so,” he answered, still in a daze. Was this kid serious? Damian knew he seemed kinda familiar but he had assumed it was because the Wayne’s were always in the papers and on TV so of course, this kid would seem familiar, but no. Timothy Drake-Wayne also happened to be Robin. Could he have not at least attempted to alter his voice? Damian shook his head as he looked to the other two Wayne members present with the sinking realization.

Bruce Wayne is Batman. You have got to be joking. Damian took a deep breath. He had never made any type of effort to try and discover the true identity of Batman and friends because it didn’t matter to him a whole lot, but they had made it so completely obvious to anyone with half a brain. The only thing they could’ve done more would be to simply announce it.

“You ok?” Timothy asked Damian after he hadn’t responded for a while.

Damian nodded finally, “Yeah, just absorbing some new information.”

“It can definitely get a bit much at these things,” Timothy agreed and chuckled again.

——————————

“Pleeeeeeeeease?” Aurora begged Damian one late summer afternoon.

Damian sighed dramatically, “Why?”

Aurora looked at him with the most pitiful eyes she could manage, “Just ‘cause?”

Damian rolled his eyes and stared at her for a long moment.

“Fine,” he caved and Aurora danced around the room, “Aren’t you getting a little old for this though, Rory?”

Aurora gasped and held a hand to her chest, offended, “I’m seven, I’m still a kid.”

“Right, until you want to stay up past bedtime, and then you’re not a child, right?”

Aurora nodded her head, “Exactly!”

Damian huffed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen, “Janet, Rory’s dragging me out for ice cream,” he called into the room.

Janet stood by the counter stirring a bowl, “Alright, her treat?” she smirked and raised an eyebrow.

Damian chuckled, “Better be.”

They made it to the ice cream parlour and Aurora dragged him into one store and then the next. Before either of them realized, the sun had begun to set and Damian didn’t want to risk having Aurora out that late.

“Let’s head back now, ok?” Damian said, gently tugging on Aurora’s hand.

“No, please? We rarely get to go out to play,” she whined.

Damian shook his head, “Sorry, little one. Can’t have you staying out too late.”

Aurora sighed but nodded her head.

“We’ll come back another day. We can even bring Janet and the other kids, how's that sou--”

Before Damian could finish consoling the small child, she was ripped from his hand. Aurora was snatched from his grasp, two larger men with most of their faces obscured, carrying her off.

Damian lunged to grab Aurora who was reaching and probably screaming for Damian, but he couldn’t hear anything. Just ringing in his ears.

Someone threw a punch to Damian’s head, knocking him off balance. He had gotten a bit rusty, but now was not the time for this. He had to get to Aurora.

Damian fought off the guys who came at him, losing count of how many there were. Something cold and heavy came down on his head and then he was lying face down on the ground. Heavy footsteps retreated and the fading screams from Aurora were the last things he heard before everything went black.

——————————

A mumbled voice, deep and gravelly and authoritative.

“--a mild concussion, but he should be fine. He seems to have a lot of old trauma and wounds,” the voice continued. Damian made no move to get up, allowing whoever was there to believe he was still unconscious. When he felt his strength returning to him, he swung his arm out. Whoever had been by his side, examining him, was no longer there.

“Calm down, boy.” the voice commanded.

Damian’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, though everything was a bit blurry, most likely due to the mild concussion.

In front of him stood the fabled Batman, Robin and Nightwing at his side.

Robin bent down to calm Damian, “Hey, Damian, it’s cool. It’s me, Robin.”

Damian jumped up to his feet and surveyed his surroundings, he had been dragged to an alley but he wasn’t too far from where he was with Aurora.

“Damian, talk to me, what’s wrong? Why were you so beat up? What happened?” Robin bombarded him with questions as he placed a hand on Damian’s shoulder. Much like their first meeting, Damian hauled the older boy over his head and slammed him to the ground.

The next moment, Batman was restraining Damian while Nightwing helped Robin catch his breath and off the ground.

“Release me!” Demian hissed, struggling in the Bat’s grip.

“Calm down,” the Bat growled behind him.

Damian kicked his leg back into Batman’s shin. The Bat grunted and his hold on Damian loosened, if only slightly, but it was enough for him to break free.

As Damian took off down the alley, the Bat and friends calling after him, his phone in his pocket reminded him.

Damian flipped the phone open to answer, “Hello?”

Janet had insisted when he had started school at the Academy that he had a cell phone for emergency purposes and Damian was adamant that he didn’t need anything fancy, a phone that could make and receive calls was more than enough, so he ended up with an old flip phone.

“Oh, thank goodness, Damian, where are you?” Janet’s voice was thick with panic as she spoke.

Damian thought for a moment, “Janet.”

“Damian, what’s wrong?”

“Someone took Aurora.”

The line was silent for a long moment, he wasn’t sure she was still there.

“You get her back.”

Damian nodded, though Janet couldn’t see him, and hung up. With that, it was clear she knew of his activities, and he’d surely have some explaining to do later.

He turned back to the vigilantes who were still on guard. Damian took a step toward Robin, sending a glare to Nightwing who stuck an arm out to stop Damian.

“Someone took Aurora,” he told Robin mostly.

Robin moved Nightwing’s arm away, “Who’s Aurora?”

Damian sighed, “My little sister, but that’s not important. What is important, is that someone kidnapped a child off the streets,” he looked pointedly at each vigilante, “Now, are you going to step up, or am I doing this alone?”

That seemed to stun the others. Robin was the first to move toward Damian, “We’ll get her back.”

Batman spoke with Nightwing in hushed voices as they seemed to be receiving information from earpieces they undoubtedly had on. Damian eyed them suspiciously as Robin attempted to speak to him in a calming voice as if he wasn’t already perfectly composed, courtesy of his training in the League.

“Don’t worry, Damian, we’ll get her back. You head home and we’ll--”

Damian’s head whipped in Robin’s direction as he stepped threateningly toward the boy, “I am not going anywhere, but getting my little sister back.”

At this point, Batman and Nightwing had stopped talking and were watching in case Damian attacked Robin, “Damian, I know that you have--”

Damian took another step towards the older boy who took a step back, “You have no idea what I can do,” he told Robin in a low voice. He looked to the other two vigilantes, “I will be coming with you, whether you like it or not.”

Nightwing sighed and shook his head while Batman simply stared.

“Fine,” The man conceded, “But you do exactly as I tell you.”

Damian scoffed, “You are not my father.”

Batman moved towards the young boy when Robin stepped in between them, “Spoiler said there’s suspicious movement in a warehouse by the docks, a kid was spotted with some of the goons.”

“Let’s head there then,” Batman nodded and started toward the back of the alley.

“You got a vehicle?” Damian called from the other end.

“Oh, you’re gonna love this,” Robin chuckled as headlights lit up the alleyway and the roar of an engine echoed off the buildings.

After the boys were seated and strapped in, the Batmobile sped off through the streets of Gotham.

Damian had a firm grip on the straps, he didn’t like the flashbacks he was getting from the masks and the general air in the vehicle. He couldn’t help his thoughts from wandering to his time with his mother and the League of Shadows and he did not appreciate those memories. He didn’t realize how glad he was that he wouldn’t have to go back there and be forced to do things he never even knew were wrong.

“Damian, you ok?” Robin asked from the seat next to him.

Damian realized how he must have looked, sweating buckets and white-knuckled as he clenched the straps.

“Yeah,” he managed, “Just car sick.”

“Right,” Robin nodded, clearly not convinced, but Damian had other things to focus on rather than convincing this boy that being in moving vehicles made him sick.

After what felt like hours, they made it to the docks and got out of the Batmobile.

Damian had to admit, he felt more than a little naked, going in without any sort of protection or weapons but he doubted that even if he asked, Batman would simply hand over a baton or two.

Damian watched the masked vigilantes huddle together as Damian grew more impatient with each passing minute. He turned to the warehouse and then back to the group of, now four, vigilantes.

Robin nodded and headed over to Damian, “So, Batman and Nightwing are gonna head in first, get the drop on ‘em, and then Spoiler and I will go in, make sure the coast is clear, once we give the signal, that’s when you can come in.”

Damian looked at the vigilantes incredulously, “You expect me to sit back while my little sister could be in danger?”

“Yes,” the Bat said simply.

Damian scoffed, “Unbelievable.”

Batman took a step toward the young boy, “Believe it or you can wait in the Batmobile. As far as I’m concerned, you’re lucky you’ve come this far.”

Damian was already on edge with Aurora being taken, and this old man was seriously pushing him, “You wanna test how far my luck can get me?” Damian spat back.

Nightwing stepped in between them, “Alright, let’s all take a second and focus.”

Damian scoffed at the supposed adults and waited for them to get in the warehouse and give the signal. The Bat and Nightwing entered first, Robin and Spoiler waiting and watching until it was their turn. After the other two entered, it was near torture for Damian to wait.

Although he did fully intended on waiting for the signal, Aurora’s screams came first.

Damian sprinted into the warehouse, swiping a tire iron from an unconscious goon as he passed, and into the battle. He did his best to make sure he used nonlethal attacks only even if these assholes deserved death for attempting to kidnap Aurora.

Damian fought his way through the goons, focusing only on the familiar squeaks he could hear coming from a side room. He stalked towards the last guy who stood guarding the door as he crumpled to his knees, whimpering before he even laid a hand on him. Damian shoved him out of the way before kicking the door down. There was a chorus of cries as the door fell to the ground with a loud crash. Damian could see the silhouettes of at least two dozen kids, but as he moved to enter the room, he was stopped by Robin.

“Damian, I know you wanna see your sister, but with the way you look right now...” he trailed off. Damian looked down at his clothes and hands, noticing for the first time just how bloodstained he was. Maybe he didn’t go as easy on them as he had meant to.

“Why’re there so many of them?” Damian pointed into the room of children.

Robin put his hands in front of him in an attempt to calm Damian down, “This is a case we’ve been working on for a little while now.”

Damian scoffed, “And you’d have let them suffer if I hadn’t insisted on acting?”

Robin opened his mouth but closed it again, “We didn’t have a solid lead on their location,” Spoiler spoke up, “Not until I was patrolling this area and saw some guys chasing one of the kids who managed to break free. They got her before I could though.”

Damian sighed and nodded, he knew he was just looking for reasons to get mad at the vigilantes. They had their ways of doing this and Damian was not included in that. He turned around as he attempted to wipe the blood off his hands at the very least.

“That kid’s insane,” Spoiler whispered to Robin as they began guiding the kids out of the warehouse.

As Damian headed out into the fresh night air, he could hear one of the kids whining and struggling.

“No, I want Dami, he’ll come, I know he will,” Damian turned around to see Spoiler trying to console a very upset Aurora as she protested to the vigilante.

Aurora looked up and saw Damian before he could move out of her line of sight and she sprinted towards him.

“Dami!” she cried as she latched on to him, “I knew you’d come!”

Damian was a little stunned but eventually, he hugged her back, “Yeah, of course I would, little one.”

Spoiler walked over to the two of them, “That’s your little sister?” she asked pointing to Aurora.

Damian nodded and Aurora nuzzled her face on his shoulder as he carried her.

Spoiler nodded, “She’s got a lot of fight in her. She’s the one who almost made it free,” she told Damian, not that he was surprised. Out of all the kids in the orphanage, Damian and Aurora had become nearly inseparable so he had made sure she knew how to defend herself.

Robin offered to take Damian’s bloody sweater as the GCPD arrived to avoid unnecessary questions. After giving Damian’s story and what Aurora could contribute, one of the officers offered to give the two a ride back as it was quite a ways to the orphanage.

Aurora slept in the car but as soon as they got back and were embraced/nearly strangled by Janet, she was wide awake.

They entered the house after thanking the officer and Damian’s already wired senses were screaming as confetti fell lazily on him and the kids all screamed together, “Happy birthday, Damian!”

He looked to Janet, “You didn’t think I’d have forgotten?” she smirked.

Damian chuckled and thanked the kids who were all up past their bedtime, but persevered for Damian, or rather, the cake.

“Thanks, Janet,” Damian smiled at her, feeling the tension in his body released as he watched the kids run around the kitchen. He felt at ease watching them, watching his family.

Janet gave him a side-hug, “It’s the least I could do. You remember the first birthday you had here?” she asked with an amused smile.

Damian laughed, “Yeah, that was definitely a disaster,” he mumbled as he remembered. He had been so stubborn and refused to tell her when his birthday was and when she found out it had already passed, she panicked. Janet had tried to throw a surprise party, only for the young Damian to obliterate the cake because he thought he was being attacked, “And yet you still insist on surprising me.”

Janet shook her head, “Well you still insist on forgetting your birthday, young man.”

Damian rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the counter to fight off the other children for some cake.

——————————

“So,” Tim started after they had finished the debrief from the child abduction case, “What’d you think?”

Bruce grunted as he removed his boots.

Dick leaned over to Tim, “I think that means he liked him.”

Tim chuckled and nodded.

Bruce sighed and turned to Alfred who stood by with tea for them, “I think it’s time we paid a visit to Happy Home Orphanage.”

Alfred nodded, “The one that you fund?”

Bruce raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“The one on the outskirts of the city?”

“Alfred,” Bruce sighed as he started.

“The one that the Alistair boy just so happens to be at?”

There was a long pause as the billionaire and butler were engaged in a heated staring contest before Bruce broke and sighed.

“Yes, Alfred. That one.”

Alfred smiled, “Very good, sir. I’ll call in the morning.”


	3. Part Three

“Is everything ready?” Janet panicked, rearranging the flowers Damian brought home the previous night for the umpteenth time.

Damian placed a hand on her shoulder, “Yes, Janet. Everything is perfect. Why don’t you wait by the door, I’ll triple check the rest of the children.”

Janet pinched Damian’s cheeks in the way she knew he loathed, “What would I do without you?”

Damian shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his now sore cheeks, “Perish, most likely.”

Janet rolled her eyes at him and shooed him away. Damian gathered the kids, smoothing dresses and adjusting clip-on ties. Ideally, he would’ve rathered not have to do this at all, but the orphanage was funded by the man and he couldn’t leave Janet to fend for herself.

There was an excited chatter from the foyer and Damian knew they had arrived. As they rounded the corner he saw Bruce Wayne, an older gentleman following close behind, Timothy, followed by Richard Grayson, the eldest son.

Janet went down the line of children, though there were only five, not including Damian which was considerably less than the amount that had been there when Damian first arrived. 

“And that’s Aurora,” Janet chuckled gently and pointed to the small girl who clutched Damian’s arm, “She nearly never leaves the poor boy alone.”

Janet motioned for Damian to step forward. He sighed but did as he was asked, “Damian Alistair,” he introduced himself and held out his hand. 

Bruce Wayne nodded his head and took his hand, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Damian.”

“You as well, Mr. Wayne.”

Bruce Wayne threw back his head and laughed, an action that nearly made Damian physically cringe, “Please, just Bruce is fine.”

Damian smiled awkwardly at him knowing he would not call him by first name only. This man made Damian nervous, everything about him seemed so forced and fake, the boy wasn’t sure how to react. 

“Well,” Bruce Wayne started, “I brought some gifts for the kids, I only hope it suits their tastes,” he chuckled.

Janet waved a hand in the air, “I have no doubt they’ll love them,” she looked over at the kids who eagerly awaited the signal that told them it was ok to move. Janet nodded her head and they were off. Bruce Wayne chatted with Janet as the two of them made their way to the door to watch the kids.

Damian smiled and shook his head at the children before turning his attention to the tugging on his sleeve, “What is it, Rory?”

Aurora looked suspiciously at the other three men who stood close by, “Can I go look at the toys?” she asked in a whispered voice.

Damian chuckled, “Of course, little one. You may want to hurry though, the good stuff might be gone.”

Aurora let out a small gasp before bolting to the door.

“You’re pretty good with kids,” Timothy commented as he walked over to Damian.

“You get used to it,” Damian shrugged as he watched the last of Aurora disappear around the corner.

The older Wayne son stepped awkwardly towards the two boys, “So, Timmy. Wanna introduce me to your new friend?”

_Smooth_ , Damian thought to himself, “You must be Richard, I’m Damian Alistair.”

Richard shook Damian’s hand, a pleasant smile on his face. 

Damian sighed, the remaining guests seemed to be waiting for something.

“Would anyone care for something to drink?” Damian asked, attempting to be pleasant or as pleasant as he could manage.

The two Wayne sons and the older gentleman nodded as Damian led them to the dining room. The men sat down, “Tea?” he asked them and they all nodded politely.

Damian left them and began boiling the water. A clatter behind him startled him, something that was quite hard to do.

“Apologies,” the older gentleman said when he saw Damian jump, “I was simply thinking of lending a hand if that’s all right.”

Damian nodded and thanked him as the man searched for the cups. Damian pointed out the cupboard where they kept the mugs and the man made a sour face at them as he got them out.

“Tea tastes best in the proper wares,” he told the boy.

Damian was quiet for a moment, he didn’t think the man was insulting them for not having teacups but he still felt like he should apologize, “I didn’t know it tasted different.”

“Of course it does, even the smallest change from the wrong temperature to steeping it too long will affect the taste.”

Damian hummed, “I had no idea, you seem to know a lot.”

The man nodded, “I know what is required to succeed as a butler.”

“I see, so you’re Alfred Pennyworth,” Damian nodded in understanding. 

The man nodded and apologized for not introducing himself earlier as the kettle began to squeal. Damian watched helplessly as Alfred took over, pouring the water, gathering the sugar and milk, leaving Damian to simply carry some mugs out to the room. 

“I see Alfred took over?” Richard mused as Alfred clicked his tongue at him.

Damian chuckled and shook his head, “Not at all, he was a great help. I suppose I don’t know much about making tea.”

Richard chuckled as he scooped some sugar into his cup, “So, Damian, was it?”

The smirk on his face irked Damian but he nodded anyway and sipped his tea. It did taste better than when he usually made it.

“How long have you been here for?” Richard asked.

Damian tilted his head to the side, “Nearly eight years.”

“You must’ve been quite young then,” Alfred mused as he smiled from behind his mug.

“Yeah, I was five,” Damian told them quietly.

Alfred set his mug down, “Forgive my forwardness, but what of your parents?”

Damian looked down at his hands as he felt the family leaned in, didn’t they know where they were? Were they not aware that they were sitting in an orphanage? One that Damian lives in?

Damian sighed, “My mother was the one who left me here, I found out she passed away some time ago,” Timothy flinched slightly at his words as he already knew.

“That’s awful,” Alfred shook his head before pressing on, “And your father?”

Damian shook his head, “I have no clue. My mother used to tell me that she’d tell me when the time was right, but she never got the chance.”

That seemed to be the end of the overly personal questions and Damian would be forever grateful for that. They spent the remaining time chatting idly, which he was surprised he enjoyed so much. Damian felt comfortable with the three others in front of him.

A man wearing sunglasses and a horribly fake mustache entered the dining room, the four at the table turning their attention to him, “Yo, Bruce said it’s about time to go,” he had a large frame, possibly even larger than Bruce Wayne, perhaps he was a bodyguard?

Timothy stood up abruptly, a panicked look on his face as he seemed to be choosing what words to use, “All right, we’ll be right out,” Richard told him

The man in the doorway rolled his eyes, when they landed on Damian, he smirked at the boy before nodding his head at him and ducking out of the room.

Damian turned to Timothy for an explanation, “That was our uh...” he struggled.

“Driver,” Richard offered as he stood up.

Damian nodded his head suspiciously as he led the men out. Alfred turned back to the boy, looking him up and down before smiling once more, “I’d like to invite you to the manor for tea if you’d accept.”

Damian raised an eyebrow, “Can you do that?”

Alfred scoffed at him, “Young sir, I have most certainly earned the right to invite a guest or two over.”

Damian chuckled at the old man, “Ok, it’d be my honour to accept that invitation then, Mr. Pennyworth.”

Alfred smiled and nodded curtly as he made his way to the car the others waited in.

Later that night as Damian helped Janet washing up after dinner, Janet was still gushing about Bruce Wayne.

“Maybe he’s thinking of adopting again?” Janet continued excitedly, “Maybe he’s thinking about adopting you?”

Damian raised an eyebrow at her, “I sincerely hope not.”

“Why not?”

“The family seems,” Damian paused, considering how best to word it. He nodded, “Completely bat-shit insane.”

Damian was later given a long and arduous lecture for his language. He thought it was clever.

——————————

Bruce pulled his cowl on and turned to Alfred, “I’ll be back, Alfred.”

Alfred nodded, “As always, Master Bruce.”

Bruce pulled himself into the Batmobile, Tim close behind and Nightwing on the comms already, relaying information of a robbery in progress on Fifth street. 

Alfred sighed heavily as the Batmobile sped away, out of the cave. Once he was sure that Bruce was gone, he turned on his heel and headed to the Batcomputer. He sat down in the chair as he had done so many times before, but this time felt different.

He input his access codes and sat for a minute. The child wasn’t even an adult yet, he was fairly certain he wouldn’t find anything that Bruce didn’t already know, but it was worth a shot.

He searched Damian Alistair, the obvious recent kidnapping of Aurora came up, as well as some other minor incidents from before he met Tim and after as well. Nothing huge, but enough to get some attention. 

The boy’s movements were swift as if he had done them a million times before. Alfred shook his head, “What have you been through, my boy...” he muttered to himself as he watched the footage they had of him. He continued his search, looking at his academic records, nearly flawless, but no clear direction either. No extracurricular activities, outside his family, of course. 

Alfred sighed, rubbing his chin with his hand in thought. He searched Alistair, but nothing pertaining to the boy showed up. He leaned back in the chair, could he be wrong? But he was so sure. All you had to do was look at the boy and you could tell, he looks exactly like his father when he was that age, all except his eyes. _Those eyes_ , Alfred thought, _I know them, but from where?_

After searching for things that happened nine years ago that might be linked to Damian and running a facial recognition for the boy to see if anything from before he came to Gotham cropped up, Alfred gave up searching on the computer. He considered bringing it up to Bruce, but if Bruce hadn’t noticed it already, he’d probably just deny it. Though, he would know best if he had a son out there, right?

Alfred pushed himself up, perhaps some tea would help him think clearly. He checked the time, Bruce would be back soon anyway, he had spent too much time reading about the boy. Alfred began toward the manor when he stopped and turned back to the computer, erasing the history. If Bruce didn’t know already, Alfred would tell him once he was more certain, at least.

——————————

Janet burst through Damian’s door, breathing heavily, “Holy, Janet, knock? Please?”

Janet waved Damian’s complaints away with her hand, “Never mind that, you’ll thank me later.”

She handed a newspaper over to Damian. He set his book down and read the headline, skimming the page for what it was she was trying to show him. 

“The Arts section,” she told him excitedly.

Damian eyed her suspiciously as he flipped and continued to skim. The largest headline read Central City Resident Wins Progressive Young Artists Award, Damian looked up to Janet who was still jittery. He looked back down to skim when he saw the picture and name. His last name was different, but it was certainly him.

“It’s--” Damian began.

“Parker!” Janet finished excitedly.

Damian looked down at the picture. He had grown, but he looked happy and healthy, his adoptive parents standing proudly behind him. Janet took the paper back carefully, looking at the picture again with a sort of sadness. Damian thought of all the times the small boy had come into his room to draw or watch Damian draw.

Janet looked back at him, “I’m going to put it up on the fridge.”

Damian nodded, handing over the paper, “That’s a good idea.”

He was glad the kid was doing good. He hadn’t checked in on Parker for a while. Damian tried not to check in on the kids too often, he knew it wouldn’t be good for him or for them, but just knowing that they were safe and living well was nice. 

Only a few minutes later, there was a soft tapping on his door as it creaked open. A very tired Aurora shuffled into his room, not waiting for him to answer, “I can’t sleep,” she told him, rubbing her tired eyes.

Damian shook his head, “Can’t sleep or had a nightmare,” he raised an eyebrow.

Aurora hung her head, “Nightmare,” she said, barely above a whisper.

“Come here, little one,” he said shifting the blankets and setting his book on the side table. She shuffled towards him and climbed into his bed, snuggling into his side as he tucked the blanket around her. 

Before he switched the light off, “What were you reading, Dami?”

Damian smiled down at her and picked up his book, “George Orwell, you heard of him?”

Aurora poked her head up to look at the cover, “Nope.”

Damian chuckled and set the book down, “All right, lay down now.”

Aurora began to protest as he switched the light out, “Don’t worry, little one, you know I won’t let the nightmares get you.”

Aurora nodded and buried her face into the blankets and Damian’s side. He held her close, he promised he wouldn’t let anything get her.


	4. Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say I'd have it up by the end of the month, idk about you guys but it's still July here. Enjoy <3

Damian sat awkwardly in silence, Bruce Wayne in front of him and Alfred Pennyworth to his right. Mr. Pennyworth seemed to be enjoying his time, watching the two others as he grinned. Damian sipped carefully at his tea when Bruce Wayne cleared his throat, Damian nearly choking on his drink.

Damian hit his chest with his fist a few times, “Are you all right?” Bruce Wayne asked him, concern clear on his face.

“Yeah,” Damian managed as he coughed a few times for good measure.

Bruce Wayne nodded, “Right, well, I was going to apologize for my sudden intrusion on your visit,” he started, directing his gaze at the butler, “I hadn’t been made aware that we’d be having guests over.”

Mr. Pennyworth smiled pleasantly back at his boss who continued to glare, “I don’t believe it’s stated anywhere that I cannot invite guests to the manor.”

Bruce Wayne mumbled something under his breath and Mr. Pennyworth cocked an eyebrow at the man. Damian wasn’t sure what he was to do in such a situation, he had been in plenty of incredibly awkward positions but that was by far the worst. 

Mr. Pennyworth turned back to Damian, “Apologies young sir, I doubt you expected to see such a sight when you accepted my invitation.”

Damian gave him a polite smile, “Not exactly, but it’s interesting to see Mr. Wayne and Mr. Pennyworth interact naturally, almost as if you’re related and not an employer and his butler.”

The two men glanced at each other and Mr. Pennyworth smiled kindly at Damian, “I wouldn’t exactly describe our relationship as a simple butler and employer, sir.”

Bruce Wayne nodded as he sipped at his tea, “Alfred has been with me since before I was even born and he’s stuck with me through my parents’ unfortunate deaths.”

Damian held his teacup in his hands and inspected it. He felt out of place watching the two of them. 

Mr. Pennyworth cleared his throat, an apologetic smile on his face, “What about you, Mr. Alistair?” Damian raised an eyebrow at the old man, he was sure he had told Mr. Pennyworth about the circumstance of his parents but the man just smiled innocently, “What did your mother do?”

Damian froze mid-drink and swallowed hard. Since Janet never bothered to ask questions about his mother and father after the first night, he never really thought about how he’d have to eventually answer such questions if he planned on hiding his true identity.

“Well,” Damian started, trying to stall as he thought up a satisfying reply, “I’m not really sure,” he said, defeated.

Mr. Pennyworth nodded and Bruce just stared, clearly not convinced, “Well, what was she like then?”

Damian fidgeted in the seat, the questions were making him uncomfortable and he was desperately trying to relay that message to the two men but they either weren’t getting it or they simply did not care.

“I’m not sure,” Damian repeated. When neither Mr. Pennyworth nor Bruce Wayne spoke, Damian sighed, “She wasn’t exactly around much. She was usually with my grandfather.”

This seemed to pique their attention, “Grandfather? I’m assuming it was your maternal grandfather. What was he like?” Mr. Pennyworth asked. Damian glanced at the older man for a long moment, so he did remember their conversation about his parents at the orphanage.

Damian sighed again, “Yes, he was my maternal grandfather,” he thought for a moment. He wasn’t sure what the best way to describe his ‘family’ was, if you could call them that. “He was a leader, and I was supposed to succeed him.”

Bruce Wayne and Mr. Pennyworth seemed to get quite serious, “Where is your grandfather?” Damian tried to focus on the heat of the tea in his hands, the hum of the lights above them, anything but the thought of his family.

“I don’t know,” he said lamely, eyes not meeting either man in front of him, fidgeting slightly in the overly large chair. He had attempted to search for his grandfather before, but nothing ever came up.

After Damian made it clear that he didn’t like the personal questions, the three of them moved on to small talk about other meaningless things. Alfred looked out the window, noting that the sun was setting.

“Master Bruce,” he said, catching Bruce Wayne’s attention, “I believe it’s about time to send the young sir home.”

Bruce Wayne glanced out the window, “Right, of course. Shall we head out then?”

Damian nodded and followed after them through the maze of a mansion. Outside, a car was already waiting, the same fake mustached man leaning against the car. He waved when he saw the three of them come out and opened the doors with a deep, exaggerated bow. Bruce Wayne looked disapprovingly at him and Alfred simply sighed and chuckled. As Damian got in the car, he glanced up at the man, his mustache slightly askew. Damian raised his eyebrows and mouthed that his mustache was off and the man nodded his thanks as he fixed it. As for why he was even wearing a fake mustache, Damian had no clue.

—————————— 

Alfred watched the car drive away before hurrying back into the mansion. He knew he didn’t have a lot of time so he quickly gathered the cups from the sitting room and headed down into the cave. He sat at the computer, inputting his access code and swiping a cotton swab across both teacups. Alfred placed the cotton swabs into the compartment to process them. He sat in the chair, waiting for the results, watching the bar fill as the DNA gathered on the swabs was analyzed. 

Too soon, the car pulled into the driveway, alerting Alfred to Bruce’s return home. He glanced between the screen with the outdoor cameras and the nearly completed loading screen. As soon as the green bar filled, he printed the result, deleted the history and then logged off before he could see the result and making his way to greet Bruce. Alfred couldn’t tell Bruce unless he was certain about his suspicion.

Later, after Bruce and Tim had left the cave, Alfred carefully brought out the hastily folded paper. Reading over the information given, he sighed deeply, “Master Bruce, what have you done?”

—————————— 

Damian stared up at his ceiling and sighed heavily. He couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling. Giving up trying to sleep at a reasonable time, he swung his legs over his bed and got dressed. It had been a long time since he had gone out, not since before Aurora was kidnapped in August and October was already half over. The sun had long set over the horizon but Damian was feeling restless after his earlier meeting with Bruce Wayne and Mr. Pennyworth. Why did he care about his family from before? Could they even truly be called that? His grandfather who groomed him to take over the League of Shadows, his mother who trained—more like tortured—him, and his father who Damian had never had so much as a glance at. That couldn’t be family.

As he slipped his shoes on, the foyer light flicked on, “Going somewhere?”

Damian glanced down at his watch, noting the late hour, and then behind him at Janet who looked less than impressed, “Yeah, I shouldn’t be gone long, just want to get some fresh air.”

Janet didn’t move from her spot leaning against the wall as she watched Damian carefully, “You know I gave you a cellphone for a reason, right?”

Damian sighed, “Yes, I do know. I used it, didn’t I?”

Janet pursed her lips as she remembered only a handful of weeks before when Aurora was nearly taken for good, “I want you to use it more. I want updates, ya hear me?”

Damian chuckled as he zipped his coat on, “Yeah, I hear you. I’ll send you a message when I’m on my way, so go to bed, please don’t wait up.”

Janet stood for another long moment before shaking her head and sighing, “I make no promises.”

She stepped quickly and caught Damian in her arms. There was a slight tremor in her embrace that he couldn’t help but notice.

Damian grabbed his bike from the side of the house and headed into town. That uneasy feeling still eating at him. What was it that was making him feel so anxious though? Damian huffed and pushed the bike forward, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

Once he was in the city, he stored his bike safely, double-checking the lock before he continued. He walked down the street, glancing this way and that, the feeling still there. He could _feel_ it, someone was watching him. He just didn’t know who. 

Ignoring the feeling, he continued through the streets. It was Gotham, someone was always watching. Damian walked, watching his breath form clouds in front of him, although it had been a while since he had last gone out, he couldn’t say he didn’t miss it and he could probably use the exercise. He felt stiff. Damian soon found a nice building and scaled it, sitting and looking out at the city. 

His thoughts all returned to the same thing: family. When he thought of family, Janet and Aurora and the rest of the kids at the orphanage came to mind, and as if as an afterthought, his mother and grandfather came after. The more his life from before was brought up, the more uncomfortable he became. He felt guilty, mostly to Janet who had been supporting and raising him for nearly eight years and yet she still knew little to nothing about him, not even his real name. Was that really an issue, though? Did Damian _have_ to tell her about his mother? 

“Hey, been a while.”

Damian glanced lazily behind him at Robin who sat down beside him but didn’t say anything to the older boy. Damian realized he had to have been sitting for a while, judging by how his fingers had begun to numb from the cool night.

“You seem kinda, I dunno, perturbed?” Robin smiled sheepishly.

Damian chuckled dryly and shook his head, “Kinda.”

Robin watched the younger boy carefully for a long moment, “Why don’t you actually talk about what’s bothering you for once?” Damian considered his proposition for a moment longer than he usually would’ve.

“Were...” he trailed off, resigning himself to the fact he’d probably come to regret saying anything but continued regardless. Maybe talking about it might actually help, “Were your parents good people?”

Damian realized he didn’t know much of anything about Timothy’s parents. Richard Grayson was well-known as to why and how he was adopted by Bruce Wayne and the second son was known to have lived on the streets, abandoned by his own parents, but Timothy’s case wasn’t something Damian ever really thought necessary to look into. He was pretty sure that Timothy’s parents were dead, though.

Robin gave Damian a tight-lipped smile, “I think so.”

Damian let it sink in a moment before turning to the cityscape and standing up before Robin you continue the conversation. He wasn’t fast enough, “And yours?” Robin called out to Damian who had reached the fire escape, “Were they good people?”

Damian glanced over his shoulder to the caped boy, his lips forming a hard line, “No. I don’t think so.”

His thoughts raced in his mind, thinking about his family, his previous one, and his current one. Maybe it was time to tell Janet. If anyone deserved to know who he was and where he came from, it was her. 

He decided it was time.

As his thoughts wandered through his mind, much like Damian wandered the streets, police cars with sirens blaring passed him and he watched as they went, a faint outline on the night sky of a boy, Robin no doubt, swinging to another building, chasing after them. Damian watched until they were out of sight before continuing down the road. He walked for another twenty minutes until he came across Mrs. Williams’ store and figured he’d stop in and grab a water or maybe a snack, he’d already stayed out much longer than he had thought and Janet was surely going to give him a stern talking to for staying out so long.

As he made his way across the street, deciding to buy something and head back so he wouldn’t worry Janet, two unnecessarily huge guys entered the store. Damian scoffed and shook his head; just his luck.

As he opened the door, the chirp sounded above his head, alerting to a new customer. Mrs. Williams glanced up to see Damian. “Evening, Mrs. Williams,” Damian nodded to her.

She beamed back at him, “Oh, Damian, I haven’t seen you in ages! Janet keeping you busy?” she chuckled.

“You know it,” he rolled his eyes, the old woman smiling and waving a hand to dismiss him to continue his shopping.

Damian strolled through the aisles, keeping an eye on the two other guys. They didn’t seem to be doing much of anything and Damian was just about to grab some sweets for the kids and head back when one of the guys knocked one of the display stands over.

“Whoops,” he smirked smugly over at Mrs. Williams who didn’t look anything more than annoyed at his behaviour. As the other guy knocked a second stand over, Damian intervened, standing in front of the two men.

“If all you plan on doing is causing a disturbance, I’m going to ask you to leave,” he told the two of them in a threatening voice. Damian could hear Mrs. Williams behind him, telling him to let it go and not get involved. There were only two and, although they did have the advantage of their size, they moved torturously slow. It wasn’t as if Damian hadn’t done this before.

The two thugs looked at each other and then back at Damian before cracking up. Mrs. Williams was visibly worried, but Damian just flashed her a quick, reassuring smile before turning back to the two men in front of him. He had just been thinking about how stiff and out of practice he felt, this was just too perfect an opportunity.

Damian contemplated asking them politely to step outside, but as the two men began to stalk towards him, he figured they’d be led outside much faster if he didn’t. Instead, Damian whipped a packet of skittles at the bald one’s head and sprinted out the door, the angry shouts and footsteps from the two men following quickly after him telling Damian he was right in not asking. Damian turned the corner into an alley and spun around to face the men. 

The one with hair flicked out his wrist, a blade glinting in the light, “You’ll pay for that one, boy,” he told Damian in a threatening voice. 

Damian smirked and chuckled softly, “For the skittles?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

The man growled lowly and lunged, knife first at Damian who easily dodged his clumsy attack. Damian grabbed the man’s wrist and brought his opposite elbow down, the hand holding the knife going limp and dropping the weapon.

The man with hair cursed at Damian as he turned to the bald one, but as Damian turned, a heavy fist came down to meet his face.

Damian groaned on the ground, it had been a while since he had been hit, especially so hard. He shook his head and attempted to get up as a foot was sent into his side.

“What now, kid?” his voice was muffled, like someone was covering Damian’s ears, “Not so tough now, huh?”

Another kick to the ribs and Damian was sent back, hitting the wall of one of the buildings. His head was ringing as he did all he could to block the strikes but they just kept coming. It felt like nearly forever before they finally left and Damian straightened himself out, everything aching. He groaned and got up on his knee but decided he’d take a moment to rest as he slid down the wall behind him. Damian touched his temple when his vision began to blur, edges fading in and out, and examined his hand with squinted eyes. Blood. _Shit_. 

Damian continued to curse as his eyes got heavy. Footsteps began to come close, but Damian could barely stay conscious.

“Shit,” a low voice groaned above him. Damian did what he could to stay awake, “Let’s get you to a hospital, kid.”

Damian’s heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he grabbed the person’s arms, “No,” he pleaded, his voice awfully pitiful and weak even to himself, “No hospitals.”

The other person cursed again, scooping Damian up as he slipped into unconsciousness. 

—————————— 

Damian woke to the sound of steady beeping and hushed voices. As he cracked an eye open, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at exactly. The place had a ridiculously high ceiling, in fact, the entire room was enormous. Damian glanced around, was it a _cave_? He looked around some more, noting the many different variations of Batman and Robin uniforms in glass cases. 

Damian went to sit up but gasped from the pain in his ribs and chest. He looked down at his dirtied clothes, dried blood on his sweater. _Janet’s gonna kill me_. 

“Oh, shit, B,” the low voice Damian had heard before he passed out said, “He’s awake already.”

As Damian turned towards the voices, he was quickly blocked by the large, looming figure of the Batman who began to carefully examine the boy, shining a light in his eye and telling him to follow it, asking him simple questions like the date, the last thing he remembered and such.

Damian pushed the Bat’s hand away as he tried checking his injuries, “I’m fine, it’s not that big of a deal,” he told the man who just continued to scowl down at him.

Suddenly a finger jabbed into Damian’s ribs, causing him to double over in pain, “Doesn’t look ‘fine’ to me,” the voice sang behind Damian.

He turned, as well as he could with his injuries, and was met with a fully helmeted head. 

“Hood, stop that,” Batman scolded the, what was he? A villain? He was known to have killed more than a few people but he was with Batman so what did that make him? Just trying to figure out something simple like that was a pain, _literally,_ Damian thought bitterly as a throbbing began through his head. 

The Red Hood put his hands up in defence, “All right, all right, even though I was the one who brought him here,” he grumbled as he busied himself over by the computer.

Batman sighed as he turned back to Damian, “Were you injured anywhere else?”

Damian took a deep breath, trying to focus and assess his injuries himself, “It’s fine, I can handle the rest on my own.”

“No, he can’t!” Red Hood shouted from across the cave.

Damian glared at the back of the red helmet, “Let’s see them then,” Batman said crossing his arms across his chest.

Damian held his gaze for a long moment, waiting for the old man to give in. Finally, Damian caved, “Fine.”

“Atta boy!” Red Hood shouted again, earning a glare from both the Bat and Damian. Red Hood simply shrugged it off and continued to inspect something under a microscope.

Damian sighed and gingerly removed his sweatshirt and shirt, with some help from Batman. After his top was bare, Damian shivered against the cold of the cave. Batman continued to examine the wounds, pressing around the bruises and suspicious lumps that shouldn’t have been there and every so often he’d stop and stare closely certain spots. 

After he finished examining Damian, Batman bandaged Damian up and watched as he delicately pulled his sweater over his head. Once Damian was fully clothed again, he looked over at Batman, “Thank you,” he nodded to him and turned to Red Hood, “And thank you, for not leaving me in the alley and not bringing me to the hospital.”

Although Damian couldn’t see, he assumed Red Hood was smiling as he walked over to Damian and ruffled his hair, “No problemo, little dude.”

Damian hopped off the medical bed and shook his legs out a bit to get blood flowing a bit and feeling back in them before turning back to the Bat, “You uh, wouldn’t mind giving me the directions out of here, would you?”

Batman stared at Damian before moving to the Batmobile and getting in. When Damian didn’t follow, Batman grunted, “I’ll give you a ride.”

Damian glanced at Red Hood who shrugged and turned back around. Damian sighed and made his way to the vehicle, aware of the aching in his left leg, now that the feeling had come back, where a bruise was surely blooming beautifully.

Damian watched out the window as the Bat drove through the streets of Gotham. Batman forced Damian to wear a blindfold while they were leaving to protect the location of the cave and neither had spoken since.

Batman cleared his throat, “So,” he started awkwardly, “those scars...”

Damian was confused for a moment before he realized he had seen the scars that littered the boy’s body. He looked out the window, uncomfortable, “What about them.”

“Where did you get them?” he asked gently. Damian realized he wasn’t using his normal, gravelly Batman voice, but something closer to his Bruce Wayne voice. Damian didn’t feel any more comforted by it.

“Training,” he stated flatly.

Batman clearly didn’t like his answer, “Who trained you?”

It was something he had been asked before, “My mother.”

There was a tick in the Bat’s jaw, “Your _mother_ gave you those scars?”

“Yes,” Damian looked back out the window.

Batman was silent again for a moment, and then he asked something Damian never planned on telling him, “Who is she?”

Damian snapped his head towards the man driving, “What’s with all the questions?”

Batman didn’t look at him, nor did he make any move, he just kept driving, “It’s not exactly a common thing for mothers to do, scar their own children. And with such deep wounds too.”

Damian shook his head and returned to gazing out the window, “She wasn’t like other mothers.”

“Clearly,” the Bat muttered. “Who is she?” he asked again, this time with more force, as he pulled up to the orphanage.

“No one,” Damian said opening the door of the Batmobile, “She died.”

Damian pushed the door closed and walked up to the front door as the Batmobile sped off back through the city. Damian sighed and opened the door, immediately attacked. Trembling arms held him tight, too tight for Damian who was wounded all over. He winced and Janet released him from her embrace.

“Damian, what the hell!” she shouted, wiping a stray tear from her eyes, “Where were you? Why are you so beat up?”

Damian chuckled and took her hand, “It’s all right, Janet, I’m fine, I just ran into some no-goods at Mrs. Williams’ store and I got a little overwhelmed,” he told her.

Janet was definitely not all right, “Where’s your phone,” she demanded angrily.

As realization rushed over him, Damian hung his head, “I’m so sorry, Janet, I completely forgot,” he groaned.

Janet took his face in her hands and began to inspect him, gently touching his bruises and the bandage on his head. “Next time you do this,” she started seriously, “I will call the cops. And I won’t bail you out.”

Damian laughed until he winced from the pain, “Got it.”

—————————— 

Bruce removed his cowl after returning from dropping Damian off and sighed, “Long night, Master Bruce?” Alfred asked, handing a steaming cup to him.

“Man, it was nonstop action, huh?” Tim sighed loudly from his spot at the Batcomputer.

Alfred eyed Tim carefully before turning his back to him, facing Bruce fully and lowering his voice, “Master Bruce, I have some... Concerns.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow at the tone of his butler but nodded and followed after him quickly. 

Once they reached the study and closed the door, Bruce turned to Alfred, “What’s wrong?”

Alfred gave Bruce a look that the detective couldn’t decipher before handing a piece of paper over to him. Bruce scanned the document, stopped, and read it again. Then read it once more, just to be sure.

“Alfred,” he started, “This says that—”

“Yes, Master Bruce,” Alfred interrupted, “I checked it myself.”

Bruce fell back into the chair behind him, staring blankly at the paper, “But then who—”

“I was hoping _you_ could enlighten me,” Alfred interrupted again. He watched Bruce carefully, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Damian is my _son_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, leave comments if you want, they tend to give me boosts to write more. I think this'll probably only be like 10 chapters but we'll see. The next part is already in the works so it shouldn't be too long. Anyway, thanks again, sorry it took forever and a half.


	5. Part Five

Bruce continued to stare at the paper, “Master Bruce, do you perhaps recall your partners from thirteen years ago?” Alfred asked carefully.

Bruce thought for a moment before shaking his head. “I can’t think of anyone who I had relations with that wouldn’t have said something, _anything_ ,” as the past day’s events returned to him, his blood began to boil, “Or anyone who would do something like _that_ to a child.”

Alfred turned curiously to Bruce, “I beg your pardon, sir, but what exactly is _that_?”

Bruce sighed heavily, rubbing his face roughly with his hands. “He had scars, Alfred.” the butler stared incredulously, “He had so many scars… When I asked him about it, he told me his mother had given them to him.”

When Bruce finally looked up at Alfred, the poor man was in complete shock. “Why?” Alfred asked simply.

Bruce shook his head. “The boy said it was from training.”

“ _Training_?” the butler repeated, appalled.

Bruce looked down at the paper again, as if the answers to their question would suddenly appear. His thoughts were a whirlpool, rushing around him as he tried to grasp at them, trying to figure out who this boy was and where he came from. 

“What do you suggest we do now, sir?” Alfred asked softly, pulling Bruce’s attention back.

Bruce tossed the paper in front of him, considering Alfred’s question. What would be the best course of action? Should he wait and investigate further into the boy’s history before he says anything? Did Damian even know that he was his father? Bruce took a deep breath. “I’ve no clue. Do you think the boy knows? That I’m his father?”

Alfred thought for a moment before shaking his head, “No, sir. I don’t believe he does. He’s said before he doesn’t know who his father is and I don’t believe he was lying.”

They were both silent for a long moment, both considering the situation, but neither one able to make any sense of it. “I just don’t get it. He’s using a fake name, whether he’s using it knowing it’s fake isn’t clear, but he obviously knows who his mother is,” Bruce paused, contemplating for a moment. “Is he afraid of getting her in trouble?” Bruce continued to speak his thoughts aloud, hoping something might stick out that could point them in the right direction.

“Master Bruce,” Alfred spoke hesitantly, catching Bruce’s attention, “I don’t think he’s worried about getting his mother in trouble, he told me she has already died.”

Bruce waved his hands out in front of himself, the exhaustion from the day finally catching up with him. “Then what? Why not tell someone?”

Alfred set his lips in a thin line, “What if the boy’s not afraid of his mother getting in trouble, but instead he’s afraid of getting himself into trouble?”

Bruce let that ruminate, looking back at the abandoned document in front of him before closing his eyes in an attempt to concentrate. He tried to think of what Damian, a _child_ , could have done that would get him in any type of trouble. Nothing was coming up, draining Bruce even more as he did his best to keep his mind focused.

Alfred huffed, Bruce raised a tired brow up at the man, keeping his eyes closed. “But honestly, sir,” Bruce opened his eyes and looked up at the older man, “did you really have no idea that he was your son? None at _all_?”

Bruce furrowed his brows, “Of course not, if I had I would’ve said or done something. Besides, how was I supposed to know?”

Alfred raised a judgemental eyebrow. “Honestly, Master Bruce, and you call yourself the _world’s greatest detective_.”

——————————

It had been a week since Damian had gotten into trouble with the two meatheads from Mrs. Williams’ store, giving Damian some time to recover from the concussion they gave him. Or rather, Damian was forced to stay on bed rest for a week, minimum, or else Janet was going to restrain him and put an ankle monitor on him. He had no choice but to concede, allowing mostly Janet and Aurora to care for him, which they both thoroughly enjoyed. Damian, however, found it utterly excruciating. Or at least, that’s what he told them every chance he got.

After the one week, Damian was finally allowed out of bed, with the exception that he remain in the house at all times. The kids had just been put to bed, Damian started the kettle to boil some water.

“Making some tea, kiddo?” Janet asked as she slumped into one of the wooden chairs.

“Yeah, you want any?” Damian offered, glancing behind him to Janet.

She thought for a moment and then nodded, “But make sure it’s—”

“Sweet?” Damian finished, flashing a cheeky smile at the older woman.

Janet chuckled, “You know me so well.”

Damian nodded, adding an ungodly amount of sugar to her tea. He set it down in front of Janet and she took a long sip, humming her satisfaction. Damian sat down across from her, fidgeting in his seat. Janet raised an eyebrow at him, “So?”

Damian pursed his lips and looked away from Janet, idly fiddling with the mug in front of him. His heart was racing and he did his best to calm it with a deep breath. “So, I was thinking we should talk.”

Janet took another sip, waiting for Damian to continue. When he didn’t, she rolled her eyes, “Well, go on then.”

Damian cleared his throat, “Right.” His throat seemed to immediately seize up and dry out, a lump forming that he tried to desperately swallow down. Janet was beginning to look more concerned than the mild annoyance she wore before.

Janet reached out her hand to grasp Damian’s, attempting to comfort him. “Damian, what’s wrong? You’re shaking like a leaf, child.”

Damian didn’t like how tight his chest felt, it felt as if it was trying to collapse in on itself. He couldn’t breathe properly but forced himself on, this is exactly the type of thing that had been drilled into him since birth. He grasped Janet’s hand back. “I just, I wanted you to know, I didn’t want you to find out from someone else. If anyone should know, it’s you,” he said, but it was more for himself, a poor attempt at convincing himself that this was what he should do. Janet had more than earned it through their years together.

Janet’s lips twitched in a nervous smile when Damian didn’t elaborate further. “You’re making me anxious here, dear.”

Damian nodded, he was making himself feel anxious as well, that’s what that feeling was: anxiety. Ridiculous, he was trained since birth to become the perfect assassin, the perfect fighter, the perfect leader, and here he was, getting anxious over this? Damian couldn’t stop the dry, humourless laugh that escaped.

“Damian, my boy,” Janet smoothed her other hand over Damian’s that still held hers, “Whatever it is, it’s ok. You don’t need to tell me if it’s making you so worked up. You’re still recovering, can’t have you back on bed rest, Rory won’t leave you alone,” she tried to joke in order to lighten the tension.

He considered her offer for a moment but then shook his head, taking his hand out of her grasp and placing it in his lap. He felt jittery from the adrenaline now coursing through him and he hoped it would give him the courage he needed. “No,” he said firmly, voice no longer shaking, “I _want you_ to know.”

Janet took her hands back as well, her face was still riddled with concern, but she kept it to herself as she sent Damian a small, reassuring smile and nodded. 

Damian took a deep breath, steeling himself, “I wanted to tell you about my mother,” Damian said, his entire being letting out a massive breath. Like even just the act of saying he was going to tell her was enough, though, he knew that wasn’t the case. 

Janet nodded solemnly, preparing for whatever he would tell her. “My real name is Damian al Ghul,” Damian watched Janet’s face carefully, searching for something. What he was trying to find, he didn’t know. He watched as the more time that passed, the more confused Janet looked and Damian berated himself. Why did he assume Janet would know who the al Ghul’s were, what they did? 

Damian sighed softly, hands fiddling restlessly in his lap. “My mother was Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, who was the leader of a very,” Damian paused, worrying his bottom lip in his teeth, trying to figure out the best way to say it. His heart picked up its pace, hammering inside his chest and Damian briefly considered that Janet could probably hear it too. “It’s a very _dangerous_ organization.”

When Janet didn’t respond, Damian tried again, rubbing a hand down his face. “Janet,” the lump was back in his throat, attempting to stop him from saying anything more. Damian distantly wondered if that was some type of defence mechanism the League implemented on all members so no one could talk about it. He shook his head, ridding himself of such useless thoughts and focusing in front of him on the table before raising his gaze to Janet. “You do know I’m not exactly a _normal_ child, right?”

Janet scoffed, her concern faltering for a moment, comforting Damian in an odd way. “Child, how many others have you seen come through this house? Out of the oddest of odd kids that have come here, you are by far the most abnormal.”

Damian chuckled softly at that, his breathing and heart rate slowing slightly with the feeling of normalcy, the feeling of _home_ that Janet exuded. “Right. Well, there’s a reason for that. I was trained since I was young to succeed my grandfather as the head of this _group_ ,” Janet nodded and he continued, “I was taught a wide range of things, from general studies, to advanced studies, to more… _unpleasant_ things.”

Janet raised her brows, seeming to understand the meaning of Damian’s words. “What do you mean by _unpleasant_ , Damian?”

Damian closed his eyes for a moment before focusing back on Janet. He let himself worry, if only for one moment, that Janet may not accept him after this. That she might even go so far as calling the police and tell them what he’d said and he’d either be arrested or sent to Arkham Asylum. If she didn’t want him around anymore, he’d deal with that, he could get by on his own. Probably. 

“I was taught how to hurt people, in the worst and most permanent ways.”

Janet took that in, sipping thoughtfully at her tea. Damian couldn’t hold her gaze any longer, his anxieties getting to him, she didn’t want him around her or the children anymore, she knew and she was going to kick him out for good. He thought about how much time he had, what he could fit into his backpack before the cops or whoever else Janet would call got there. Rory’s smiling face crossed his mind, making him wince. He probably wouldn’t have time to say goodbye to her. Would she be upset? Surely she would, she’d probably kick up a fuss and go out on her own to find him. A small smile fought its way to Damian’s lips at the thought of her.

“All right,” Janet spoke clearly, no hesitation in her voice, dragging Damian back from his thoughts of running.

Damian felt like he had whiplash from how quickly his head snapped up to search her face. “ _All right_?”

Janet nodded, “Yeah. That was before, right?” she asked and Damian nodded his head slowly, still trying to wrap his head around her words. Janet nodded back, a smile growing on her face. “Good. And you don’t plan on going back there, do you?” Damian shook his head. There was no way he’d ever go back. “Then we’re fine.”

Damian just breathed for a long minute as Janet took a sip at her quickly cooling tea.

“You’re just, fine? With me?” Damian spoke quietly, surprising Janet and himself with how small and young he sounded. “You’re just accepting the things I’ve done, things you don’t even truly understand?”

Janet set her mug down and sighed gently, “Damian,” she started, as if he were a small child who couldn’t understand why the sky was blue or why one plus one equals two. “You have no intention of harming the children, do you?”

“Of course not,” Damian said, a little more harshly than he meant, but he was a bit offended she would even ask if he’d ever hurt them.

Janet only smiled triumphantly and picked up her tea. “Exactly.” Damian stared wide-eyed at the old woman. “Damian, you are not who you were when you were with your mother. You are not who you were when you first began living here, hell, you aren’t even who you were a few months ago.”

Damian felt his entire body relax, releasing a tension he wasn’t even aware he had as his eyes searched for a hint of doubt in Janet. When he couldn’t find it, he looked around the room, for what, he wasn’t sure, but he had no idea what else to do. 

Janet chuckled and then smiled tenderly at him, her eyes softening and taking Damian’s hand back in her own. “My child, you are an astonishing young man who has been through so much more than most people three, four times your own age. It’s all right. I’m very happy you’ve decided to share this with me, but it doesn’t change who you are in the _now_ , who you were _before_ is not an issue.”

Damian was stunned into silence, words completely abandoning him as Janet rose from her seat to make her way around the table. She pulled Damian’s arms up and he obeyed, standing facing her and Janet pulled him to her in a tight hug. He had been hugged by Janet before, but that was different. That was the type of hug a mother gives, the type of hug Damian had never received. His heart seemed to drop as he released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he wrapped his arms around Janet.

“You silly, stupid boy,” Janet sniffled, “You’ve never been whatever you thought you are, whatever you’ve managed to convince yourself you are, _never_ ,” Janet brought her hands up to his head to move him back so she could look at him, “You have something great within you, something no one could ever teach or take away from you, and it drives you to be great, to be _good_.”

Damian felt like his entire body began to shut down, everything malfunctioning as this woman in front of him, who he had come to think of as a sort of mother figure, told him every single thing he had yearned to hear for so long but had long abandoned any hope of actually hearing.

Janet laughed wetly, tears flowing like steady streams down her face, “For how much you boast that you’re some sorta boy genius, you sure look dumbfounded now.”

Damian couldn’t do anything more than stare at Janet and ask why, why hadn’t he been given a mother like her? Someone who would love him unconditionally, no matter what. No matter how he was raised and what he was told was right and wrong, no matter what kind of monster he had convinced himself he was.

“Thank you,” he whispered as Janet tugged him into another hug which he gladly accepted.

Damian took his now abandoned tea to the sink, Janet close behind with her own mug. She stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, wiping a stray tear away as she spoke, “So you lived with your mother until you came here?”

Damian nodded, hesitantly, still unsure if he wanted Janet knowing everything. “Yes. Well, for the most part. I was training all the time so I didn’t see too much of her outside of that.”

Janet hummed. “And your father?”

Damian’s gaze found the floor. “I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t know. Mother said she’d tell me when the time was right, when I was ready, but she died before the time came.”

Janet stood still for another moment and then shooed Damian out of the kitchen before he could wash their dishes, chiding him for stressing himself while he’s supposed to be recovering.

Damian felt impossibly light like he was about to float away, into the night if he opened his window too much. It felt strange, but it felt like something he could get used to. Damian smiled softly to himself as he climbed into bed, closing his eyes and for once, feeling only peace as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

——————————

Aurora yawned as she stepped carefully down the stairs, seeing the light still on in the dining room, and heading towards it. She scrunched her nose as she stepped off the last stair, her throat feeling impossibly dry. Before she could round the corner and ask Janet for a glass of water, the voices stopped her in her tracks.

The voices were hushed as if speaking about secrets that could only be told during the night like she did with her stuffed giraffe, Giraffery. Aurora could tell that it was Dami and Janet talking, though about what exactly, she didn’t quite catch. She caught one or two words, here and there. One thing stuck out to her.

“My mother was Talia al Ghul,” she heard Dami say and Aurora felt like she had been punched in the gut. Dami had never told anyone about his mother or father, or anything from before. Aurora had asked on multiple occasions, trying to catch him off guard so he might let something slip, but she had never succeeded. Why was he talking about his mother now? Was he going back? Would he leave her? 

Aurora’s feet shuffled backwards, the only sound she could hear was her own heartbeat and the rush of blood in her ears. Dami couldn’t leave, he wouldn’t, right? They weren’t related but he was still her big brother, he wasn’t allowed to leave her, just like she would never leave him. She had to stay with Dami. If Aurora ever left, he would always come to find her, just like he had that one time with the bad guys.

If Dami left, Aurora would find him too, even if he was taken by bad guys, she’d... she’d fight them off and protect him, just like he had done. She could do it, Dami made sure she knew how to protect herself if anything happened. Aurora just needed Dami to stay. That’s where they both belonged, together with Janet and Giraffery. They were a family, and families stick together. 

Aurora had made it back to her room and slipped back into bed, hugging Giraffery as she squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself to sleep, forgetting all about her thirst. 

——————————

Janet walked about in the kitchen gathering the various ingredients she needed for pancakes. She figured after the emotional night she and Damian had last night, it’d be nice to have some of her special cinnamon pancakes Damian had grown to like. She smiled to herself at the thought of the boy. He had been so closed off when he had arrived on her doorstep, like he was unaffected by anything, showing little to no emotion.

The first night he was there, she had given him clothes to sleep in and that was the first time she had seen such scars, on anyone. He was so young, yet it was glaringly obvious that the poor child had suffered greatly. Janet hadn’t known what to do for the first while, he didn’t play with the kids, and when they had managed to convince him to join, he didn’t know any games. He tended to drift off to the sidelines, watching them play as he pretended to read, but kept watch as if to keep them safe from something. After their talk, she supposed that may not have been too far off. 

Hearing what Damian told her the previous night had been a shocker but it wasn’t as if she hadn’t made guesses as to his past, she just never thought he’d ever be open to talking about it. She was fine with that too, if he didn’t want to talk about it, she would support him for as long as he stayed with her. Through the time he had spent at the orphanage in Janet’s care, he’d grown into a fine young man. One that Janet was more than proud to call her own, even if it was only as his temporary guardian. She only wished for Damian to continue to grow and find his happiness, perhaps even finally accept someone’s proposal for adoption.

The phone rang, forcing Janet back to the present as she checked the analog clock. It was still early, none of the kids had woken up yet. She cautiously made her way over to the phone, picking it up off the hook and placing it on her shoulder to continue stirring the pancake batter, “Hello? This is Happy Home Orphanage, Janet speaking.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Norwell,” the voice sounded familiar but she couldn’t immediately place who it was, “my apologies for calling so early in the morning, it’s Alfred Pennyworth of the Wayne household.”

Janet paused stirring the batter as she switched the phone to her other ear, her brows furrowing. “Yes, of course, Mr. Pennyworth, what can I do for you this morning?”

“Master Bruce wanted to request an appointment,” the old man stated, leaving no room for debate.

Janet thought for a moment and then returned to stirring, “Right, well I will let Damian know when he gets up and I’ll have him call you right back,” she spoke in the same tone as he had, letting the butler know she wouldn’t set the boy up without his consent. Damian was weird enough around the billionaire, she wouldn’t force him to meet with the man if Damian hated it that much, whether he happened to sponsor their orphanage or not didn’t matter, her kids were her top priority. 

The butler cleared his throat on the other end of the line before Janet had prepared herself to hang up on him. “He requested to meet with you, Mrs. Norwell, without the young sir.”

Janet stopped stirring again. “Mr. Wayne requested to meet with me. Just me,” she stated more than asked him.

“That is correct.”

Janet considered asking the butler why but ultimately decided against it. “All right, Damian will be out of the house this afternoon, please tell Mr. Wayne he’s welcome to stop by then.” Without waiting for a response from the butler, Janet hung the phone back up and stared into the batter before taking a deep breath and calming her racing heart.

She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to handle the meeting, it all depended on what Mr. Wayne wanted.

—————————— 

After breakfast, the kids took off to the playroom, arguing who got the first turn with which toy. Aurora had been acting weird since the morning, sticking even closer to Damian than she usually did, and after eating, she excused herself from the table to go up to her room. 

Damian stepped into the kitchen, carrying the dishes from the table to the sink. He tried to be as unassuming as possible, knowing if Janet noticed him doing things, she’d tell him to go rest even though he was pretty much completely healed. Janet sighed as she looked out of the window by the sink.

“What’s wrong?” Damian asked and Janet smiled kindly at him before raising an eyebrow at the dishes he was carrying.

Janet sighed and shook her head, still smiling. “Was it just me or was Aurora acting a bit weird?”

Damian pursed his lips and nodded, placing the dishes in the sink. “It’s not just you.”

Janet nodded and sighed again, clearly that wasn’t all she had been thinking about. 

“Did you want to take the kids to the park in the afternoon?” She asked finally.

Damian grinned back at her, “You want me to take them to the park? I can go outside?”

She rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the way of the sink, “Yes, so don’t make me regret it.”

Damian nodded and headed up the stairs. He made his way to Aurora’s room, knocking softly on the door and waiting. When there was no answer, he carefully pushed the door open.

“Hey, Rory,” Damian spoke softly to the small girl who looked up at him with her round, brown eyes. “Did you want to come with me and the others to the park?”

She looked away for a moment and then shook her head, focusing back on the book she had in front of her. It was easy to forget that she was growing up, already reading and writing. 

Damian sat carefully on the edge of her bed, placing his hand on her forehead, “Are you ok, little one?” He asked her gently. “You seem a bit out of it.”

Aurora shook her head again, “’m fine. Just a stomach ache.”

Damian nodded, not totally convinced, but understanding she clearly wanted to spend some time alone. He stood from her bed, “All right, well, the offer still stands. We’ll be leaving after lunch.”

——————————

Damian told Janet that Aurora wasn’t feeling well and would likely be staying home that afternoon. Janet nodded and said she’d get Grace to bring up some stomach medicine to her. 

After lunch, Damian slipped his shoes on and guided the kids to the park with Grace who did indeed still work at the orphanage, but only on some weekends since the decrease in kids. Between that, and Damian helping out, the need to employ others to help out dwindled and Janet only ended up keeping Grace for a few weekends. 

The kids waved goodbye to Janet as she waved back, waiting until they were out of sight before returning inside and putting the kettle on as she waited.

Not ten minutes later, a sleek black car pulled up to the orphanage, Janet taking a deep breath as she opened the door and prepared for Bruce Wayne.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it wasn't very exciting, I just needed to set things up a bit.  
> Also, if anyone is wondering, Grace isn't as old as Janet (who’s in her mid to late 50′s by the way, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet...) but she’s in her late 40′s and was a good friend to Janet when she lost her husband. I actually have quite a bit of background for Janet and Aurora and some small points for some other smaller characters but they haven’t fit into the story as of yet and I didn’t want to force it in. Anyway, if anyone’s curious about any of the characters, feel free to comment or something and I will 100% be there to answer.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading, leave a comment if you want, have a good rest of your night <3


	6. Part Six

Janet carried a tray of mugs with tea and a pot of coffee over to the dining room table where Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth sat, both of them looking rather out of place compared to the room around them. 

“I'm not sure if this'll suit your tastes,” she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Bruce Wayne smiled kindly at her, “I’m sure it’s fine,” he reassured her, taking a mug and pouring his own coffee.

Janet felt her nerves rise as her thoughts ran tirelessly through her mind. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of another visit? Looking to adopt another child, Mr. Wayne?” Janet asked, only half-joking.

Mr. Wayne chuckled and took a sip of coffee. “Well, I’m not sure,” he said, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I was wondering if you could answer a few questions.”

Janet felt her body tense automatically at his change in tone, the warning laying just underneath his words. Janet didn’t let her unease show as she nodded and leaned back in her chair. “Of course, Mr. Wayne, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

The man nodded, his face was much more guarded than she had seen from him in the news and when he'd visited. It was more than a little unnerving for Janet to see, but perhaps that was what Damian had seen and that's why he seemed to be so wary around the large man.

Bruce Wayne nodded in understanding. "I had some questions about Damian Alistair if you wouldn't mind." He wasn't asking Janet. She was expected to answer his questions, which only had her worries worsening. When Janet didn't drop his gaze, the billionaire continued, "I was hoping you might have some insight into his past."

Janet cursed at herself, shifting uncomfortably under the scrutinizing gaze of both men. "He arrived on my doorstep on November 13th, nearly eight years ago, no one around, no papers, no clothes other than the ones he wore. I asked him what he was doing outside, alone, and he'd told me his mother instructed him to wait there until she returned." Janet was well aware that that wasn't what Bruce Wayne was asking, but she wasn't about to spill what had taken so long to come out of that stubborn boy's mouth. To her surprise, the man listened with rapt attention, startling Janet a bit. 

When Janet hadn't said anything, Bruce Wayne sat back in the small chair. "Go on," he prompted her, more gently than he had spoken earlier.

She took a deep breath, she just couldn't get a handle on the man in front of her. Janet glanced at the butler but he appeared to be entirely enthralled with Janet's less than mediocre tea. "Well, of course, I took him inside, gave him something warm to drink and asked him his name. He told me, and I asked him for his mother's name which he didn't give me." When Bruce Wayne raised an eyebrow, Janet shrugged, "He said he didn't know, I wasn't about to push it."

"And now?" he asked without missing a beat. Janet furrowed her brows at him and Bruce Wayne huffed, his patience no doubt running thin. "Has he told you who his mother is?" he asked before quickly adding, "Or his father?"

Janet's brows lowered further, her eyes narrowing as she looked the man over. She was not fond of the way he asked questions, as if he were interrogating her. "He's never met nor was told about his father, as for his mother," she thought for only a moment, "he's said he doesn't remember anymore. He was quite young and much has happened since then, it's no surprise he doesn't have any memories around that time." It was clear that she hadn't convinced either man in front of her, but neither pressed the question any further. 

After a long moment of silence between the three of them, Janet crossed her arms against her chest, eyes still narrowed. "May I ask why you're inquiring about the boy?" she challenged.

Janet's heart raced when there appeared to be some kind of silent exchange between the butler and Bruce Wayne. Finally, the younger man seemed to concede. He sighed heavily as he reached into his suit jacket pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. As Bruce Wayne slid the paper across the table, Janet was tempted to simply take a lighter to it and watch whatever it was burn. She was almost certain that she had absolutely zero desire to see what was written on the paper. Whatever it was would not be good news for anyone.

The longer Janet waited, staring the paper down as if it personally offended her, which she could decide after she opened it, the more uncomfortable Bruce Wayne became. He had definitely been weird the whole fifteen minutes he'd been inside Janet's home but he was getting worse. She sat forward to take the paper in her hands, still wanting to just burn it, she carefully unfolded it, her eyes scanning the words. Janet read it over again. And again. And then once more, just in case she had misread it. She hadn't. 

Janet's gaze flickered between the words on the paper and Bruce Wayne's face, studying both with an open look of resentment. She tucked the piece of paper into her own pocket, daring either man to speak as she did. "I am going to ignore how exactly you even acquired Damian's DNA because I can assure you, he would not have given it willingly. And, if he finds out you somehow _stole_ it, I guarantee you, you will _never_ see him again." She looked pointedly at both Mr. Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne. Janet dropped the man's gaze in favour of the window, her thoughts now spinning around her in a frenzy of anger and the need to protect the boy. He had been through more than enough, would this billionaire end up doing more harm than good? Janet shook that question away, taking a calming breath in. It wasn't her decision to make. He was old enough he would understand the situation. He had a right to know. 

“I do apologize for that.” Mr. Pennyworth bowed his head slightly.

Janet's eyes met Bruce Wayne's, the man startling slightly. She took in his face and the more she looked, the more she could see Damian. Most of the boy's features certainly came from Bruce Wayne, but his green eyes, darker complexion and thicker lips obviously came from his mother's side. Janet let her mind drift briefly to Damian's mother, _Talia al Ghul_ , he had called her, not a common name by any stretch. At the thought of her, Janet's rage returned in full force as she glared at Bruce Wayne who responded to her glare with a look of confusion.

"And?" Janet spoke finally, her voice tight as she forced the word out and she crossed her arms again.

Bruce Wayne glanced at Mr. Pennyworth who looked equally puzzled. "And what?"

Janet's hands tightened their hold on her arms, glaring at Bruce Wayne. "Just because you’re his biological father, you think you have any right after you left him with someone like _that_?" 

Mr. Pennyworth turned his gaze to his tea once again as Bruce Wayne searched for an answer that would satisfy the older woman. "I didn't know," he said simply, defeated.

Janet scoffed, not caring about the looks she received from the man. "You _didn't know_ ? As if that just makes the _hell_ he went through ok because you didn't know? She was more than abusive, causing him to suffer trauma no one should have to deal with and at such a _young_ age," Janet's voice took on a dangerous tone as she continued. Bruce Wayne visibly winced at her words and Janet placed her hands on her temples. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "You slept with the woman, you must have known," she concluded.

Bruce Wayne gave her a sheepish look as his eyes averted hers. Janet shut her eyes tightly and sighed, feeling like she was dealing with one of the smaller, trouble-making children. "You don't know who she is, do you?" she breathed. The man nodded his head. "Honestly, I'm aware the tabloids paint you as a playboy but I never thought you really are one," she said under her breath. Mr. Pennyworth hid a small smirk behind his mug as he took a sip. 

—————————— 

Aurora listened carefully from around the corner, holding Giraffery close. Mr. Bruce Wayne was Dami's dad? Was he going to take Dami away? A frown found its way to her small lips, _would Dami leave her to go with his dad_? Aurora's vision blurred as she rounded the corner, planting her feet in the entryway to the dining room. 

"Are you going to take Dami away?" she asked, her gaze directed to the larger man sitting at the table.

Everyone turned their attention to the little girl who had just intruded, distracting them from their conversation. Janet sent her a small smile, "What're you doing, Rory? I thought your tummy was hurting?"

Aurora completely ignored Janet's words, her gaze never leaving Mr. Bruce Wayne. The man got up and kneeled in front of Aurora. "I have no intention of taking him away from you," he told her seriously.

She watched Mr. Bruce Wayne as he sat, waiting. She nodded, finally, and he smiled gently at her.

"Will you hurt Dami like his mom did?" Mr. Bruce Wayne frowned at her question. He glanced behind himself at Janet, and then the grandpa at the table, but neither offered any assistance.

The big man sighed and took Arora's hand not holding Giraffery and returned to his previous sincere gaze. "I would never hurt him like that, or in any way. My only desire is to keep him safe and happy."

Aurora's dark eyes scanned Mr. Bruce Wayne's face. When she found nothing but truth in his words, she nodded again.

—————————— 

Bruce stood up, pushing off from his knees and turned back to the table. With the child present, he didn't want to risk setting the director off again. He was once again reminded how bad of an idea it was to anger a mother, even if she wasn't the kid's biological mother. Bruce knew not to ask Janet about Damian's biological mother, she would most likely deny even knowing and if she did admit it, she would refuse to tell him, demanding he ask the boy instead. Which wasn't totally wrong, he should have a conversation with the boy.

"Well," he started, glancing between Alfred and Janet, "We should probably head out now, wouldn't want to be a bother," he said with a Brucie Wayne smile. 

"Yes, that'd be best," her voice devoid of the softness it held when she spoke to the small girl.

Alfred stood and thanked Janet for the tea. "If you could ask Damian to stop by the manor tomorrow, it’d be greatly appreciated," he said with a nod.

Janet hesitated before nodding back, "Yeah, I'll send him over tomorrow." 

Bruce paused, examining the older woman's expression. "If you could, maybe, not tell him yet? I think it'd be best if I did it myself."

She nodded again and followed them to the entranceway, closing the door behind them. Next to Bruce, Alfred huffed a breath. "I daresay that went well," he said cheerfully with a smile.

Bruce groaned as they started towards the car, "Except we still don't know who his mother is and his surrogate mother hates me."

Alfred chuckled as they got into the car, "Well, the girl seemed to approve."

"Yes, after she accused me of planning to kidnap the boy," Bruce commented, rolling his eyes. Alfred chuckled again and they left the orphanage. Bruce couldn't help feeling it had been a very unproductive visit. He was hoping he would get some sort of information from the woman as to who Damian's mother was. He was concerned that the boy wouldn't want to tell him, even more so after finding out that he's Bruce's child and Bruce had essentially abandoned him, even if he had no idea he was actually conceived.

—————————— 

Damian returned, two of the four kids hanging off of his arms as he held them up, the other two latched onto his pant legs. Janet laughed until she was red in the face, pointing her finger at Damian whose clothes were now thoroughly stretched out from the kids.

"Yes, yes, it's incredibly entertaining to watch me struggle. Perhaps we can get rid of the TV and simply use me as your personal jester," Damian deadpanned while Janet recomposed herself.

"That's not a bad idea," she mused and Damian gave her a disgusted look and groaned. 

Grace smiled slyly over at Janet and Damian knew that look wasn’t anything good. "I may have managed to snap a few photos," she whispered conspiratorially over to Janet, winking at Damian as he made a distressed noise.

Janet crowded Grace as they fought for the phone, bickering. Damian scoffed but couldn't fight the smile that found its way to his lips. He trudged up the stairs, his muscles aching from playing with the kids after being bedridden for so long. When he reached the top of the stairs, he was immediately barreled over, toppling to the side to avoid the stairs.

Damian looked down, seeing Aurora's small arms snaking around his waist. "Rory, that could've been really dangerous," he chided her. He waited for her to let go, but Aurora didn’t even move from her spot, head down and clutching him tightly. He placed a hand on her shoulder to gently push her off, "Little one, what's wrong?"

She finally looked up at him, lips trembling and tears welling in her dark eyes. Damian moved quickly, pulling the small girl into his lap as they sat just off the side of the top of the stairs, and cradled her. He cooed softly, waiting until the small shuddering of her shoulders subsided and only soft sniffles remained. Damian forgot too often that Aurora was still young. She acted a lot older than most of the kids her age, making it easy to forget, but holding her while she sobbed quietly was a violent reminder. 

Finally, Aurora lifted her head, her face a complete mess and Damian had to stifle a laugh. "What happened, little one?" 

She sniffled hard as Damian brought his hands to her face and wiped away the excess tears. “Dami, are you gonna leave?”

Damian furrowed his brows, shifting Aurora in his lap so she was facing him, “Aurora, what would make you think I’m going to leave you?” he asked seriously.

Aurora shrugged and wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Dunno, maybe your dad wants to take you away,” she spoke quietly, Damian wasn’t sure if he had actually heard her. His dad? Taking him away? Damian was more than confused.

“Little one, I don’t understand why you’d think that,” he held her hands firmly to reassure her of his words.

“But wouldn’t you want to go with him?” she squeaked out.

Damian firmly shook his head, “Rory, no, I wouldn’t. You guys are my family.”

Aurora looked away from Damian, her brows furrowed. “Even though it’s Mr. Bruce Wayne?”

Damian’s heart stopped, he was sure. The blood in his body drained, sweat forming on his temples as he attempted to wrap his head around what Aurora had just said. He chuckled softly, nervously, “Rory, why would you say that?”

Aurora shifted back from Damian’s lap, still avoiding his gaze. “Aurora,” he tried again, his voice harsh as he spoke, “Why would you say that Bruce Wayne is my father?”

Aurora fidgeted in front of him, only meeting his eyes for a few seconds before flitting away. “‘Cause I heard Janet and them talking…” she trailed off, wringing her hands.

Damian felt sick. “Aurora, who is ‘them’?”

“Mr. Bruce Wayne, that grandpa and Janet,” she told him quietly. 

Damian felt like all of the blood in his body drained in those fifteen seconds. “Dami?” He could hear Aurora but he couldn’t even focus on what she was trying to say. His thoughts were a mess in his head, making anything nearly impossible. 

The more he sat and thought about it, the more frustrated he felt. Bruce Wayne _knew_ that he was his father, yet he hadn’t told Damian, nor ever tried to get him back from his mother. If Bruce Wayne was indeed his father, then he _had_ to know who Damian’s mother was. He had to know what kind of person she was. 

Damian felt his blood boil, Bruce Wayne went to Janet for god _knows what_ . More than that, Janet knew, _she knew_ , and she hadn’t told Damian immediately. 

He took a sharp breath in and stood abruptly, startling Aurora. 

“Dami?” She called again. He looked down at her but he didn’t know what he was supposed to say to her. Instead, he turned and rushed down the stairs. 

He made it to the kitchen entrance where Janet now stood alone, tidying up. Janet turned and saw Damian, “Oh, Damian,” she started. _Please, tell me_ , he silently begged. If she had just told him, he could forgive that she hadn’t said anything until then. “I was thinking of pizza, what do you think?”

Damian’s heart sank. “You know.”

The hard edge to his voice startled Janet and her eyes widened slightly. “Damian? What are you--”

“You know. You know who my father is.” Damian was doing his best to compose himself but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do so. 

Janet’s face fell and she paled, “Damian, I only found out today, he didn’t want me to tell you, he wanted to--”

“So?” He interrupted her again, “Just because he didn’t want to tell me, you, of all people, _you_ kept that from me?” The pain in his own voice made him wince. He was being weak, he knew that, but he couldn’t stop it. He had to look away from Janet when he saw her eyes glistening with tears, his own eyes threatening to overflow. He blamed Janet and Grace and the kids for making him feel safe enough that he could feel his emotions.

“Damian, I’m sorry, I just…” Janet trailed off when she focused on something behind Damian. He looked, Aurora watching them with wide eyes, flowing with tears again. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and tell her it was ok, that he was just surprised, but his emotions were too high.

“Proof,” he choked out. Clearing his voice, he tried again, “Is there proof?”

Janet blanked for a moment and then blinked away the tears that gathered, “Yes, here,” she reached in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Damian.

He took it, his chest still heaving. Damian unfolded it and stared at the words. His mind was barely working at that point, emotions taking over completely. He slammed a fist on the door frame, hearing it splinter and smelling the blood but he didn’t feel the pain. He shoved the paper in his pocket and moved quickly past Aurora who tried reaching for him as he left. 

When Damian got outside, he looked up at the darkening sky and wanted to scream. _Bruce Wayne_ was his father. Out of every other man on Earth, it had to be that one. It was like some kind of sick joke. Damian felt like throwing up, bile rising the more he thought about his mother and father. 

He clenched his fists, a small stinging sensation radiating from his left hand but he continued to ignore it as he grabbed his bike and headed into the city.

Damian abandoned his bike in an alley and left, walking through the city. The bike ride did a little to calm his emotions, but not nearly enough. He needed a release. So, he walked. It didn’t take long. Some thug choosing to rough up a seemingly unassuming kid. Damian didn’t waste time dealing with him before continuing on his walk. 

Damian ran into a number of thugs on his way to, well, he didn’t know where. They were all easy enough to deal with, when he got rid of one, another seemed to come and take their place.

The sun had long set and Damian could feel it, someone _watching him_. He whipped around, not seeing anyone as his emotions rose, “Come out,” he commanded them. He expected a vigilante, specifically the one who sired him, especially after the bloody trail Damian had left.

Someone stepped from the shadows, moving swiftly, not like the thugs and too hostile to be one of the vigilantes. They wielded a weapon, Damian already at quite a disadvantage. He wouldn’t let that show. “Who are you.” 

His opponent remained silent, making a show of whipping the bo staff around their body. Damian sighed, hoping that maybe this would help him release. Either that or maybe Batman would finally appear and Damian could take it out on him. 

Damian was pulled from his thoughts as something sharp lodged into his right leg. His opponent moved towards Damian with a bo staff and sent small, solid swings in quick succession while Damian was distracted by the pain in his leg. He didn’t have time to dodge, only being able to block with his forearms. 

He managed to grab ahold of the staff, ripping it from their grasp. Before his opponent could attack again, Damian swung the staff at their temple, knocking them out. 

He hissed at his forearms and leg, feeling the pain now that the fight was over. 

Cold metal collided with the back of his head, giving Damian the feeling of déjà vu. He fell to his stomach, trying to push himself up by his arms before they gave out beneath him. He glanced behind him to see the staff he dropped in another person’s grasp, coming down to greet him. This person was the same as the last, shrouded in darkness making it difficult to make out any features.

Damian threw a hand out, grabbing their foot and pulling with all his strength. The person toppled to the ground and Damian scrambled very ungracefully on top of them, his hands going to their throat as he squeezed. Their arms and legs flailed, but Damian held tight, ignoring any other pain that came from their flailing until he counted ten seconds after they stopped moving to make sure they were out. 

When he was sure, Damian stood and got up off them. He wobbled on his feet, cursing himself for being stupid, he should have just stayed at home and talked with Janet. This was why emotions were a nuisance.

Just as Damian decided he’d head back home, he heard that telltale _whoosh_ behind him. He turned around, swaying as he did. “Damian,” the gravelly voice spoke, making Damian’s quickly fogging brain hurt. 

Damian shook his head in an attempt to focus, “What,” he spoke, the word slightly slurred. The large man moved toward him, gently taking his arm before Damian fell over.

“What happened here?” Batman’s voice was gentler but Damian remembered why he’d been out in the first place. 

He snatched his arm back, glaring at the man before him. “You,” he started, with a wavering finger pointed in Batman’s general direction, “You knew, but you didn’t tell me. Why?”

“Knew what?” He asked, obviously confused.

Damian sighed, “I know now, it’s no use hiding. I know you’re my father.”

The man seemed to stand in shock for a moment, “How did you know that I’m-- wait, who told you I’m your father?”

Damian scoffed, swaying on his feet, “Does that really matter?”

Batman held his hands out in front of him, ready to catch Damian if he fell. “No, I suppose not,” he said, taking hold of Damian’s arm again. 

Damian didn’t fight it this time, he could feel his brain growing fuzzier as the minutes passed and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn’t something he could handle on his own. 

“Why’d you leave me alone,” Damian started, feeling the Bat guide him through the alley, “Why’d you leave me alone with her?”

The Bat glanced down at the boy, not sure how to answer. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. Damian frowned at the words. They weren’t what he wanted to hear, not that he knew what he wanted to hear anyway. “I don’t remember, no matter how much I think about it, I can’t remember.”

“Are you saying you don’t remember my mother?” Damian’s words were slurring more.

The man shook his head as they reached his vehicle, carefully placing Damian inside. Damian tried to focus as the pain radiating behind his eyes and in his forearms and his leg and his entire body, in general, became stronger with nothing else to focus on. The lights outside the car only made it worse. Damian closed his eyes, feeling a rush of calm come over him as he did. 

Slowly, he slipped into unconsciousness.

—————————— 

Aurora stared out the door, waiting. Janet tried to get her to come inside, with pizza and other treats, but she wouldn’t budge. She sat down beside Aurora after putting the rest of the kids to bed. “He’ll come back,” she told her. Even after saying it, Janet wasn’t sure of her own words.

“It’s my fault,” Aurora spoke softly.

Janet shook her head, “It most certainly is not.”

Aurora looked up at Janet with teary eyes, “He left because of me.”

“Oh, Rory,” Jannet pulled the girl into a hug, “He didn’t leave because of you. When he gets back, you’ll see. If you keep saying it’s your fault, he won’t be happy.”

Aurora squeaked, “I’m sorry, Janet.”

“Hush, it’s ok,” Janet consoled her, glancing at the cellphone beside her. She was hoping it’d ring by now, letting her know that Damian was ok but it hadn’t. She couldn’t help the anxiety that swelled in her chest. Where was that boy?

Her phone started ringing as if on cue and she snatched it to answer, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Norwell," the voice greeted on the other end. Janet's stomach twisted into knots, it was a voice she had heard not even 24 hours ago, one that couldn't mean anything good. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I meant to get this out earlier but I was in hospital haha
> 
> Thanks for reading this, I honestly had no idea people would actually want to read the stuff I wrote, I was more just doing it because I wanted to write but didn't want to write my actual works.
> 
> If you guys want more dumb stuff or want something written, send me an ask and I'll probably write something, my tumblr is dato-potato


	7. Part Seven

Damian groaned as he moved to sit up, feeling pain in every part of his body. 

“Don’t move too quickly, wouldn’t want to make things worse,” a gentle voice spoke next to him. Carefully, Damian opened his eyes, a familiar smiling butler sitting next to the bed Damian was laying in. 

“Where…?” He trailed off, his voice hoarse from sleep.

Mr. Pennyworth smiled as he fixed the blanket around Damian. “You’re in the manor. Master Bruce brought you back in bad shape last night so I fixed you up some, though you still have a concussion. Again.” 

Damian glanced over the smiling man at his words, he wouldn’t have expected such sarcastic words from him. “Well, I suppose some food would do you good,” he said and stood from the chair, leaving Damian alone in the room. 

He looked around and it looked just about exactly what you’d expect from a rich person’s guest room, lavish furniture and what looked like a stupidly spacious bathroom from where Damian sat on the bed. He sighed and leaned back into the pillows, uncomfortable with how expensive everything felt. He really needed to stop getting himself into these situations. 

There was a soft tap on the door, bringing Damian out of his thoughts. “Come in,” Damian called, expecting Mr. Pennyworth. 

Bruce Wayne entered, “Glad to see you’re awake.”

Damian wasn’t sure what to say so he just nodded. 

“I had Alfred call Janet last night,” Bruce Wayne spoke cautiously.

Damian chuckled lightly, “You didn’t want to call yourself?” He taunted. “You afraid of Janet?”

Bruce Wayne raised an amused eyebrow, “Shouldn’t I be?”

Damian paused for a moment. “Yes, you definitely should be,” he said thinking of Janet and how furious she was going to be.

“I’d like to have a talk with you, if you’re feeling well enough,” Bruce Wayne told Damian, back to a more serious tone.

He nodded, “Yes, perhaps after food?” He sent an awkward smile to Bruce Wayne as he nodded. Damian wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as he could, even if it was only the time it took him to eat his meal. Bruce Wayne left the room and only a few minutes later, Mr. Pennyworth entered with a covered tray. 

After eating and changing into non-bloodied clothes, Damian was led down a hidden staircase to the cave. “You sure I shouldn’t be blindfolded?” He asked Mr. Pennyworth who scoffed at the question.

“I hardly think it matters. You are a young master of this manor, you’ll find out sooner or later.” 

Damian smiled awkwardly again. His mind was still quite fuzzy from the fight, he wasn’t sure what to think of suddenly being a part of the Wayne family. Did he have to change his name? Did he have to call Bruce Wayne _father_? God, he hoped not. 

“Damian,” Bruce greeted, his voice echoing in the cave. Damian glanced around, not seeing anyone else. He hadn’t seen anyone since he’d woken up. “I sent them off on a mission,” Bruce explained as if he could tell Damian was looking for the others. 

Damian limped slightly over to Bruce who motioned to the chair. He declined to sit in the chair, instead, he leaned on a nearby table. 

“I wanted to ask you some questions,” Bruce spoke, all business. “I was wondering if you happened to recognize those,” he pointed at the table behind Damian.

Damian turned, looking over the bo staff and a throwing knife, still bloodied from being lodged in his right thigh. It wasn’t hard to recognize them, he had spent more than enough time with them from his childhood. Damian's throat seized as he looked over the weapons. He glanced back at Bruce Wayne who looked back at him expectantly. 

He clearly had already had dealings with the League and he would know they wouldn’t target some random kid, even if they knew he was Bruce Wayne’s son. Not without a reason. That brought up another excellent question, why were they after Damian? Sure, he was the grandson of the Demon’s Head but why were they monitoring him? Why attack him? His mother and grandfather were gone, it didn’t make any sense. Damian recalled a few weeks before when he started to feel the eyes on him. Had that been when it started or had it been even longer? 

_Wait_. His heart stopped as a thought came to him. Could it be possible that Talia survived? It couldn’t be, right? 

Damian’s semi-peaceful, semi-normal life was slipping through his fingers like sand as he stared down at the throwing knife he now held in his hand. When did he pick it up? He took deep breaths to try and calm himself but the more clearly he thought, the more he was sure that Talia was back. How, he wasn’t sure but she was back and she was most likely after him. He didn’t want to go back, he left once already, and it hadn’t even been his decision, the chances of him getting out again were slim to none. 

He wouldn’t go back, he didn’t want to. Why should he? He did what Talia wanted the first five years of his life, he couldn’t go back to doing what he had been forced to do. She had plenty of his DNA to make another him who would do what she wanted. The thought made Damian shudder.

“No,” he breathed. Without thinking, he threw the knife, watching it fall into the depths of the cave. He turned back around, grabbing the staff to do the same but Bruce Wayne caught the staff before he did.

“Damian,” the voice was enough to bring him back, controlling his breathing, slowing his thoughts. 

“She’s here.”

Bruce Wayne looked confused as he moved into a less defensive position. “Who?”

“My mother,” Damian spat. It wasn’t fair, he’d tried so hard to be normal, but how could he ever expect to be normal when his mother is an al Ghul and his father is _Batman_. It was an awful lie, that he could have a peaceful life. Damian felt so small, curling in on himself as his mind fell into a frenzy.

Bruce Wayne’s face fell, and Damian saw it. It was only for a second, but when he looked at Damian, he saw it. “ _Talia_?”

Damian looked away, his heart beating out of his chest. He knew. It was over. He knew what kind of monster he’d been raised as. Janet accepted him but she didn’t truly understand, Bruce Wayne clearly did. “I should’ve known,” Bruce Wayne muttered. 

Damian whipped his head towards the man, seething. As if it was Damian’s fault that his mother was Talia. “Yes,” he hissed, “You should’ve, you’re the one who had _relations_ with her. This wasn’t my choice, I didn’t ask to be her son. I was forced into the role with no way out. And now, I have a life, an arguably good, peaceful one.” He spat, narrowing his eyes at his supposed father, “No thanks to you.”

He turned to leave, not wanting to hear what Bruce Wayne had to say but the pain in his head spiked and Damian faltered. When his vision cleared, he looked up to see that Bruce Wayne had caught him. He shook him off, still glaring at the man and limped up the stairs back to the manor. Grabbing what he could, he left the manor.

——————————

“Well, he certainly has his mother’s eyes,” Alfred said.

Bruce sighed and sat down in the chair he had offered to Damian. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Alfred stared at him incredulously. “Raise the boy,” he told Bruce, the answer obvious to him. 

“He was raised by Talia, how am I supposed to--” 

“He was _raised_ by _Janet_ ,” Alfred corrected.

Bruce stopped for a moment, realizing what he was saying. “Yes, that’s right.” 

“Exactly. The boy is _nothing_ like his mother. Despite her best efforts, no doubt.”

Bruce nodded. Alfred was right, as usual. Bruce jumped too quickly, not thinking about the fact that he most likely hasn’t even seen his mother in nearly eight years. 

——————————

There was a knock on the door and Janet rushed to open the door. A rain-soaked Damian stood outside, a sheepish smile on his face. Janet noted the thin clothes he wore and ushered him inside. She waited until he was dry and had a blanket wrapped around him before she started asking him questions.

“So?” Janet asked, sitting beside Damian.

He shrugged lazily, “I found out about Bruce Wayne.” It was enough for her to understand what he meant. Damian chuckled dryly, “I kinda went off the rails.”

Janet scoffed, “That seems to be an understatement.” She hadn’t missed the bandages covering his body or the limp as he entered the house. “What exactly happened?”

Damian took a deep breath. Janet should know if his mother was really back. “I think my mother is back, and I don’t think she’s as dead as we thought.”

Janet paused beside Damian. “Oh,” was all she could manage. 

Damian looked up at Janet carefully. “I think they’ll be after me,” he said, hoping that she’d understand what he was trying to say. 

She sighed and stood up, “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to be prepared.”

Damian wanted to believe that being prepared would be enough but he couldn’t put Janet and the kids at risk because he didn’t want to leave his home. He’d figure something out. Probably. “It’s not that easy,” he told her, shaking his head.

“I’m sure there’s something we can do,” she said as she began to pace the room.

Damian just watched her. He didn’t want to leave, but it was the best solution to keep them all safe. And he would, he would do whatever it took to keep them safe. How could he convince Janet? Could he even convince her? 

He decided he would not be able to, not while she was still ranting about all the security measures they could take that Damian knew would be useless when faced with his mother. It did make him feel good that Janet was so willing to fight for him even if she knew exactly nothing about what she was getting herself into. 

Damian hadn’t noticed Janet had stopped pacing and was watching him. “You’re not staying, are you?”

He wanted to tell her he wasn’t going anywhere but the words died in his throat. He couldn’t lie to her like that. He couldn’t stay, not if he wanted to keep his family out of this mess. Janet’s face fell as the silence from Damian dragged on. She sat down next to him, “What are you planning?”

Damian sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he hadn’t thought too much about it, but there was one place he knew would be relatively safe, provided they would take him in after learning who his mother is. “I’ll probably go to the Wayne’s and stay there until it’s dealt with.”

Janet nodded solemnly, obviously not happy about his decision but not wanting to say it out loud.

“You’re gonna leave?” 

Both Janet and Damian whipped around to see Aurora and Benji, one of the younger kids, standing in the doorway. Damian got up and scooped them both up in his arms. “Not for a long time, just for a little while,” he tried to sound sure that it wouldn’t be that long but in reality, he had no idea.

Aurora and Benji both had tears in their eyes. “Dami, stay,” Benji said softly, clutching Damian’s shirt in his small hand. Damian wanted to, he really did, but he couldn’t risk it. 

He carried them back up the stairs, telling them he wasn’t leaving yet, and promising he wouldn’t be one that long. As he tucked Aurora in she pouted up at him. “Please don’t go, Dami.”

His heart broke looking down at her but he convinced himself it was in their best interest. He just needed to keep telling himself that. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, “Goodnight, Rory.”

He didn’t miss the tears that slipped from her eyes as he left the room. 

The next morning, after all the kids were sent off to school, Damian packed up a bag with clothes and any other necessities he’d need while he was away from home. As he went about his room, grabbing things here and there, Janet stood, watching from the doorway.

“Are you sure?”

Damian stopped packing, “Am I sure what?”

Janet pushed herself off of the doorframe. “Are you sure this is the only way?”

Damian sat on his bed and looked up at Janet. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days, her eyes red-rimmed. Damian tried not to think too hard about it and he steeled himself. “I _have_ to. I can’t risk you guys getting hurt. I won’t.” He thought for a moment, shaking his head and looking away from Janet’s gaze. “Certainly not just because I didn’t want to leave.”

Janet stood still, eyes scrutinizing the boy in front of her. She let out a sharp breath, “You’ve grown, so much.” Damian nodded and Janet came over to the bed, pulling the boy up to her and hugging him tightly. “Stay safe, and come back soon.” 

Damian nodded again, not trusting his voice. 

It was a few hours later that Damian was on the bus once again, headed for the manor. He didn’t want to have to deal with Bruce Wayne’s obvious displeasure that Damian was Talia’s son but it was the best and fastest way to deal with the situation. 

——————————

“I’m sorry, you’re going to have to run that by me again, B, I thought you just said that Damian is _yours_ and _Talia’s_ _son_.” 

Bruce looked to his now second youngest son, exasperated. “Yes, Tim. Damian is my biological son.”

“When did that happen?” Dick asked.

Bruce shook his head, “It’s hazy but I think Talia drugged me.”

The two boys took that in quietly. It was quite a shock hearing that the boy from the orphanage was Bruce’s biological son but they couldn’t imagine how it was for Bruce. 

Alfred came into the sitting room, “Master Damian is back, sir.”

They all stood up and followed Alfred to the foyer where Damian was taking his jacket off. When he saw Bruce, he cast his gaze away, unsure. “I believe it would be best for me to remain here until this situation is dealt with.”

Bruce nodded, “Right.”

The silence that fell over them was tense and awkward, no one feeling brave enough to break it. 

“I’ll show you to your room, Master Damian.”

The three remaining watched Damian and Alfred ascend the stairs. 

“Oh my gosh, that was awful, what did you do to the boy, B?” Dick asked, sighing dramatically when they were out of earshot.

Bruce shot Dick an indignant look, “I didn’t do anything, he up and left after he told me who his mother was.”

Dick looked less than convinced that was all but he dropped the subject.

——————————

Damian followed Mr. Pennyworth to the room he had been in the day before. 

“Lunch will be ready at noon,” Mr. Pennyworth told him. 

Damian sat on the bed, “Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth.”

Mr. Pennyworth smiled kindly at him, “Please, Alfred is fine.”

Damian nodded and Alfred left the room. Opening his bag, Damian fished out his phone, sending a quick text to Janet as per their agreement to let Damian go to the Wayne’s. He looked around the room, he still had a few hours before lunch, what was he to do until then? 

Leaving his room, Damian decided he’d take a look around the manor. He found a few decorated bedrooms, sitting rooms, bathrooms, and a guest room until he made it to more stairs. Up those stairs, he found mostly closed doors, but one open door. Inside that room, he found floor to ceiling shelves filled with books. He moved to the closest shelf, browsing the books until he found one he thought interesting. 

Damian settled into a particularly large chair and opened his book. It wasn’t for another couple of hours until he was interrupted.

“Hey, Squirt.”

Damian whipped around to see a large man leaning against the shelves. He narrowed his eyes at the man, getting ready to take on a defensive position. “Who are you?”

The man chuckled, stepping further into the room. “Do you not recognize me without the stache?”

Damian examined the man’s face, relaxing slightly when he realized it was the fake moustached driver. “The driver, though I still don’t know your name.”

The man held out his hand and grinned down at Damian. “Jason Todd. Nice to meet you formally.”

Damian paused, he knew that name. “The dead one?”

Jason laughed softly at that, “Yeah, that’d be me.” At Damian’s cautious but curious face, Jason smiled gently, “It’s a bit of a long story.”

Damian got up and shook his hand. “Good to meet you too,” he said, though he wasn’t fully convinced of that.

“Anyway, Alfred said it’s nearly time for lunch and the old man wanted everyone there.”

Damian nodded before setting the book on a table for later. 

Lunch was an awkward affair, Bruce Wayne kept asking Damian questions about things he’d really rather not talk about but the man didn’t seem to get the message until Richard hijacked the conversation. 

“So how’s your sister from last time doing?” Richard asked pleasantly.

Damian smiled sadly at the thought of the kids. “Aurora is doing well, she’s always been quite strong.” He thought of Aurora and her watery eyes as he left her room the night before, and then how she’d ignored him that morning before school.

Richard nodded, “That’s good, and I’m sure she’d grow up well with an older brother like you,” he said with a smile. 

Bruce Wayne didn’t speak again, leaving the boys to talk leisurely, until he had finished his meal. “Damian, I’d like to speak to you after you’re finished if that’s all right.”

Damian nodded silently, not really wanting to but knowing it wouldn’t be easy getting out of that conversation. Although, perhaps he could fake an illness? _No, that’s too childish_ , Damian sighed and pushed the rest of his meal around on his plate, suddenly having no appetite. 

Finally, Damian pushed his plate away and got up to follow Bruce Wayne. Damian found the man in his study, the door next to the library. He knocked on the open door, Bruce Wayne calling for him to come in. Damian sat awkwardly in the chair on the other side of the desk, feeling like a child who was getting scolded for something. 

Before Bruce Wayne could speak, Damian sat forward. “I understand if you’d like me to leave but if you could allow me to stay until this situation is dealt with, I would be incredibly grateful,” he ground out, he fully expected Bruce Wayne to kick him out. Who would want Damian near their family when he was so dangerous?

“Hold on, what are you talking about?” Bruce Wayne asked him.

“Well, I understand you may not want me around your family--”

“Damian,” Bruce Wayne’s tone was sharp, “You _are_ family.”

Damian didn’t believe that, that’s certainly not what he got from the previous day. “Despite what you may think, you are my son. I’m sorry I didn’t know about you until now, if I had…” Bruce Wayne’s face was contrite. “If I had known, I would’ve stopped at nothing to get you back.”

Damian was more than taken aback by Bruce Wayne’s words, he hadn’t been anticipating it all. “So, it’s ok for me to stay here? For a little while?” Damian asked slowly.

Bruce Wayne nodded, a small smile on his face. “Yes, of course, you can stay for as long as you want, this is your home now too.” Damian didn’t know how to feel about that but he supposed it was better than being kicked out to deal with his mother on his own.

Damian asked Alfred if he could take his dinner in his room and with a lot of persuading, Alfred begrudgingly allowed it. Damian just needed some time to process and settle in. He headed back to the library, picking his book back up and getting comfortable in the chair again. 

——————————

In the morning, Damian was surprised to find the manor largely empty, save for Alfred who brought Damian tea to the library where he had been spending most of his time. 

“Where is everyone?” Damian asked as he sipped his tea.

“Master Bruce left for work and everyone else either went back to their respective homes or had other plans for today,” Alfred informed him. Damian hummed in acknowledgement. “Call for me if you need anything more, Master Damian.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

Alfred left Damian to his book.

——————————

There was a knock on the door and Janet rushed to get it, hoping it might be Damian back, even if it was just to grab something he forgot. When she opened the door, she was greeted by a tall, thin woman with long brown hair and familiar deep green eyes.

“I’m here to pick up my son.”


	8. Part Eight

“Can I help you?”

The woman looked around Janet into the house and she silently thanked that the kids were all either at school or out with Grace. “I’m here for my son.”

Janet smiled as pleasantly as she could, she had a guess as to who this woman was and there was no way she was letting her anywhere _near_ Janet’s son. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re referring to.”

Janet began to close the door but the woman stuck her foot out. “I’m positive you do,” her tone was low and dangerous as she leaned in, looking behind Janet again and sighing heavily. “But it seems he’s not here, so send him a message, will you? Tell him his mother is here to get him.”

Without waiting for Janet to respond, the woman turned on her heel and left. Janet stood stunned as she watched three SUVs pull out of the driveway of the house, following each other down the road.

After they were gone, Janet hurried inside and dialled Damian’s number. 

——————————

Damian’s heart was pounding in his ears as he hung up with Janet. His mother… she really was back. He could feel everything spinning out of control as the need to _do something_ became nearly unbearable. Deciding the best course of action, Damian began towards the grandfather clock he knew was an entrance to the cave.

“May I ask what you’re doing, Master Damian?” It still didn’t feel right to be called that but Damian ignored that for now. 

Damian clenched his jaw before turning and facing the old man, doing his best to school his features. “I need to use the cave computer, I’m sure it’s better than any computer money should be able to buy.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow down at him, considering before sighing. “I’m afraid Master Bruce hasn’t granted you access to the Batcomputer.” Damian stared at the butler for a moment, dumbfounded. Did he actually say the _Batcomputer_? He had to wonder how the man said that with a straight face. 

“I’m sorry, Alfred, but I need to get in there.” Damian stepped around Alfred but quickly found himself staring up at the ceiling, his back stinging from the force of being thrown back on it. Carefully, he got up from the floor, eyes narrowing at the seemingly unaffected man in front of him.

Damian would later learn just how dangerous Alfred’s background really was. 

“Apologies, Master Damian, but I think you’ll find getting into the cave rather tricky,” Alfred told him with a smile. He gave Damian one last look before walking back to do whatever it was that he did. 

After Alfred was out of sight, Damian lunged for the clock, turning the hands to 10:48 and waiting for the click. 

But the click never came. Damian turned the hands around again, setting them to the same time but still, nothing happened. With a defeated groan, Damian let his head knock against the clock. Surely there had to be other ways of getting in, the only problem was where.

——————————

Damian was found a few hours later, laying with his back against the floor and his feet propped up against the clock. Alfred did absolutely nothing to hide his amusement as he looked down at the boy.

“Lunch is ready, Master Damian,” he informed him with a small laugh. Damian groaned and turned to his side so he could get up. 

Damian glared at the man until his eyes started burning from the lack of blinking. He let out a long breath and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Am I just supposed to stay locked up in the manor?” He asked, clearly annoyed with his predicament. He didn’t have time for this, Janet and the kids could possibly be in danger and he’s just sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

“Certainly not, you’re free to leave at any time,” the butler assured with a curt nod.

Damian stared blankly at the man, his patience was wearing _very_ thin. “And if I do, I run the risk of putting my family in danger.”

Alfred smiled brightly at the boy, “And by keeping you out of the cave and safely in the manor, we avoid the risk of you being in danger.”

Damian glared again but it quickly withered. He was so frustrated with everything but it all boiled down to himself; he was absolutely furious with himself because he felt as though he couldn’t protect his family. He thought by leaving he’d be able to keep them out of whatever this would inevitably turn into. He was stupid to think Talia wouldn’t find her way to the orphanage and that’s his fault. If he’d thought about it even a little, he’d have figured out that she would likely go there first. 

A hand fell to his shoulder and brought Damian out of his thoughts as he looked up into Alfred’s eyes, full of concern. Damian looked away, “Talia showed up at the orphanage. Janet called me earlier and told me. And what am I doing? Sitting around doing absolutely _nothing_.”

Alfred’s face was clear with concern when Damian looked back up at the man. “Are they all ok?” He asked carefully.

Damian nodded his head and Alfred levelled him with a sympathetic look and began to the dining room. “I’ll ring Master Bruce immediately and I’ll,” he paused to look behind him at Damian, “I’ll see what else I can do.”

Damian’s shoulders relaxed, he hadn’t even realized he was so tense. “Thank you,” he breathed and Alfred nodded as he walked off to call Bruce Wayne. At least he might have a chance to do something, after all, they saw how serious the issue was. He couldn’t stand doing nothing anymore, he’d rather smash his head through the grandfather clock until he’d made a hole to the cave. 

Damian was disappointed to learn that he was still barred entry to the cave but was glad to hear that Bruce Wayne would be installing motion sensors, cameras and any other security measures he thought necessary. 

——————————

“Ok, so if I want to check, I don’t know, maybe the backdoor, how would I change the camera?” Janet asked, pointing down at her phone that displayed the garage.

“You hit this button here,” Bruce explained patiently as he tapped the screen and it went black before displaying the backdoor. He had been explaining the app to Janet for a good half hour already but he wanted to make sure she understood how to use it.

Janet nodded, tapping through the other cameras before her phone began to beep and she froze. “What does that mean?”

Bruce moved beside her and tapped on the flashing notification. The screen went black again and then came back, showing the front door, something sitting on the front step. Bruce dashed to the front door, swinging it open in time to see a black SUV pulling away from the curb. 

Janet came up beside him, “So that was the alert.”

Bruce looked down at the letter that sat on the front step before he turned back to her. “I’ll set it to alert my phone as well,” he told her seriously.

Janet’s gaze landed on the letter still on the ground. “You know what kind of person his mother is?” Bruce could tell she was choosing her words carefully.

He nodded. “I do.”

“Can you deal with her? Keep him safe, keep us safe?” Bruce wasn’t sure how much Janet knew, clearly enough to know that Talia was a danger to the kids, but beyond that vague knowledge, it wasn’t obvious. 

“I will do everything in my power,” Bruce promised Janet sincerely. Janet nodded at that, seeming to be put at ease by his words. 

Janet gazed out the window at the setting sun. It had started to get dark so much earlier with winter coming. “I should get started on dinner then, and I’m sure you have important matters to attend to.” 

Bruce left the orphanage, letter in hand, feeling a bit conflicted. He hadn’t read the letter yet but was it something he should tell Damian about? Was it really worth it to have him worry even more about his family? Bruce shook his head, of course, it would be worth it. He didn’t exactly have the right to hide it from him anyway, and if he did try and hide it, it would just cause more issues he didn’t want to deal with. He was _trying_ to get the boy to trust him, and hiding something like the letter would destroy what little trust he had built up.

When Bruce returned to the manor, he was greeted by Damian, practically vibrating with impatience.

“So? Any issues? Were the kids ok? What kind of security systems did you end up going with? In my opinion, the best option would be the—” Damian’s onslaught of questions was stopped by a soft knocking on the door and Bruce’s phone ringing. Damian huffed in annoyance before moving to get the door as Bruce reached for his cellphone and picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Um, hello, Mr. Wayne,” Janet’s voice on the other end sounded panicked and Bruce was immediately set on high alert. “It seems Aurora is missing.” Bruce’s hands went numb. Had Talia actually kidnapped one of the kids? 

Before Bruce could formulate a response, Damian cleared his throat behind him. “Is she looking for this?” Bruce spun around, looking where Damian was pointing behind himself at the little girl who continued to try to hide behind Damian. Bruce sighed, barely registering Janet still going off in his ear about the child and if she had run off or if she was taken.

“Janet?” he interrupted, “She’s here, she’s safe.” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. 

There was a long-suffering sigh, “Oh thank goodness,” Janet breathed. “If she’s there, I expect her home before bed, she’s in for the scolding of a lifetime,” Janet assured and Bruce felt himself shiver at the thought. 

“Of course, I’ll see you then.” And with that, they hung up. Bruce stood, staring at the child for a moment. “How did you get here?” he asked finally.

The small child just shrugged and pointed to the open door where his car still remained parked. Bruce tilted his head at the child, “Did you sneak into my car?” 

Aurora nodded and moved a bit more behind Damian who just looked between Bruce and the girl. They all stood in silence for a long moment before Alfred graced the three of them with his presence, “Would you like some supper, Miss Aurora?” 

Her face lit up as she grabbed Damian’s hand and followed Alfred to the dining room. Bruce trailed behind them, enjoying watching Damian interact with the young girl. He hadn’t been very talkative since he’d been at the manor, granted the circumstances weren’t the best and he hadn’t been there for very long but regardless, it was nice seeing another side to his son. His son that he barely knew. 

Bruce kicked himself for not being able to communicate better with him, he wanted to have a better relationship with him, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to do that. Maybe he could call Dick over that weekend so he could lend a hand. He always did have a way with people. Bruce decided he’d call Dick after he dropped Aurora back off. 

Dinner was… eventful. It had been a long time since Bruce shared a meal with someone not even in double digits in age but it was a nice change of pace from his usual meals, especially seeing how much Damian enjoyed having her there. When everyone was finished and they all walked to the door, Aurora had started crying, clinging to Damian.

Damian shushed her softly, taking her in his arms, “Rory, hey,” he started in a whispered voice as her sobs quieted, “I won’t be gone forever, it’ll only be a little bit.”

“But I want you home _now_ ,” she sniffled.

Damian shook his head, amused. “I know, little one, but I can’t just yet. I have some things that I need to deal with first,” he said, eyes glancing over to meet Bruce’s. 

It wasn’t until Damian asked Aurora if she could be the oldest sibling, helping Janet out around the house and helping with the kids, until he got back that she finally agreed with a sad nod of her head, dark curls bouncing as she did. 

Bruce drove her home in relative silence. Janet ran out of the house as soon as he arrived, barely waiting for Aurora to get out of the car before she brought her into her arms.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Wayne, really, I can’t thank you enough,” Janet said after she had done a thorough once-over of Aurora to make sure she wasn’t hurt anywhere.

“It’s not a problem, I’m just glad that she’s safe. Gave us all quite the scare,” he smiled down at the girl who pouted and looked away.

Janet nodded, “Yes, I’ll be sure to have a _long_ talk with her,” she said, eyeing Aurora.

They said goodnight and Bruce got back into his car. When Bruce got back for the second time that day, Alfred greeted him. Bruce looked around the man, “Where’s Damian?”

“Master Damian retired early, I’m afraid,” he informed Bruce. 

Bruce frowned and made his way to his study. He still had the letter from Talia that he had yet to read. He sat down heavily in his chair, using his letter opener to slice the side of it and out slipped another letter, addressed to Damian and a short note to Bruce. _I will see you soon, beloved. In the meantime, pass this on to our son, will you?_ Bruce scoffed at the message and tossed it to the side before glaring at the letter to Damian. He was tempted, but he refrained from opening it. Again, he didn’t want to break the delicate trust he had built up. Instead, he dialled his oldest’s number, hoping that Dick would be free to come up for the weekend. 

——————————

Damian watched Aurora leave, he knew it was what they should do, he couldn’t keep her with him, it was only more dangerous that way, he _knew_ that, it’s just… he missed home. He missed Janet and the kids, the constant noise in the house and Janet’s cooking. It may not be as good as Alfred’s but it tasted like home. 

After the car was out of sight, Damian decided he’d go to bed early. His past sleeps had been quite restless as of late, for obvious reasons, so he figured any extra sleep that he could get in was a win. Unfortunately, that night proved to be no different from the rest, Damian tossing and turning for most of it before he finally fell into a light slumber, faraway voices calling out to him. 

When Damian looked around, he didn’t recognize the location, although he only got a small glimpse of his surroundings before he felt a burning pain all over his body. Reaching back to touch his shoulder, he found something sticking out of it. He couldn’t spend too much time on that either as he was lifted up into the air by a hulk of a man, his face covered from view by a mask of metal. Damian had no idea what the hell was going on but it quickly became clear, though _why_ it was happening was still a question.

A sword was thrust into his chest and Damian gasped for air. His throat closed, preventing him from breathing properly, his mind clouding as panic overtook him. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to _wake up_ but he didn’t. Instead, when he opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a rather unassuming room. Damian turned around, looking for anything out of the ordinary but all he could see was four grey walls and one white door. Damian stepped towards the door but found his feet sluggish. A wave of nausea washed over him as he looked down at the bodies that lay unmoving at his feet. Damian turned away almost as soon as he saw, hoping to not have to see the faces, not have to recognize that he _knows_ them. _This can’t be real_. He could not have just seen his family _. Dead._

Something heavy settled in his gut, his stomach turning as he averted his gaze, looking up at the ceiling, willing himself not to think about the fact that his family lay at his feet and— _don’t. Don’t think about it_. Damian could feel tears sting his eyes, a lump forming in his throat as he choked it back. _It’s not real, they’re all fine. It’s not real._

When Damian opened his eyes again, he was greeted by a dark room, not his own room but still familiar. Slowly, he sat up, his breathing still uneven and shallow. His hands shook as he brought them to his face, startling at the damp feeling under his eyes. Damian sat forward and took a shaky breath in. When he let it out, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and headed out of the room. There was no way he could stay still after something like that. 

He wandered the halls, planning on going to the library but stopping when he came across a room with a light on. He was pretty sure it was Bruce’s study and not that he wanted to snoop around, he was just _curious_ , and that would be the perfect thing to take his mind off of his nightmare. He sauntered into the room, casually taking in the pictures hung on the wall of his family, as well as proof of his accomplishments that were displayed, and various other knick-knacks. 

“What are you doing in here?” Damian didn’t mean to flinch, but he hadn’t heard anyone come up behind him. Slowly, Damian turned around, facing a very apprehensive Bruce Wayne.

“I couldn’t sleep and decided I’d head to the library,” Damian explained lamely.

Bruce Wayne raised an amused eyebrow, “This isn’t the library.”

“Yeah, well, the light was on and I got a bit curious,” Damian mumbled, looking down at the desk next to him. His eyes widened as they landed on a letter. A letter addressed to him in his mother’s handwriting.

Damian reached out to grab it slowly. “What is this?” Bruce Wayne’s eyes flicked between the letter and Damian. “How long have you had this?”

Bruce Wayne put his hands out in front of him in a calming manner but it was doing everything but calming Damian at that moment. “I got it earlier today when I was installing the security system in the house,” he explained evenly.

Damian scoffed, “Right, and when did you plan on telling me?”

“As soon as I got home,” he replied instantly. He seemed to know what Damian wanted to ask next as he sighed, “I was going to tell you as soon as I got home, but Aurora showed up and I completely forgot. When I got back from dropping her off, you had already gone to bed, I wasn’t going to wake you up for it.”

Damian wanted to be angry but he knew he had no reason to be. It made sense, it just didn’t make him any less upset about it. He looked at the letter and ripped it open. He scanned the words before scoffing and throwing the letter into the lit fireplace. 

Bruce Wayne watched it burn curiously, “What did it say?” he asked finally.

Damian shrugged, watching the paper curl in on itself, “Told me that she was coming for me, to be prepared to go back and some other vague threats.”

Bruce Wayne nodded seriously, “Right, exactly what you’d expect from a mother-son correspondence.”

Damian turned incredulously to Bruce Wayne, “Did you just make a joke?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said nonchalantly.

Damian shook his head, he could barely believe his own ears, perhaps he was still dreaming. 

“Did you want to raid the kitchen? I think Alfred hid his cookies somewhere,” Bruce Wayne asked him carefully.

After thinking about it for a moment, Damian nodded once, “Why not? How much trouble could we really get in?”

Bruce paused, an odd mischievous glint in his eye, “Oh, you’d be surprised.”

——————————

Dick received the call the night before, Bruce asking for him to come up to the manor on the weekend which Dick was more than happy to oblige. It wasn’t often Bruce asked for help so it had to be serious. Dick knew about the kid and Talia so he could only assume it had something to do with that. He figured he’d surprise Alfred, coming Friday since he had the day off anyway. Dick wasn’t expecting to be met face to face with the kid immediately after knocking on the door.

“Hey, nice to see you again,” Dick nodded to the kid who nodded back.

“You too.”

Alfred smiled gently at Dick from behind Damian, “I’m pleased to see you back home, Master Dick. Did Master Bruce call you?”

Dick smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, he asked me to come down on the weekend but I figured I’d take advantage and come down on my day off and stay for the weekend.”

“Right, well let me put the kettle on,” Alfred said, seeming very pleased with the surprise arrival and hurried into the house, the two boys following after. 

Damian seemed to be a bit more comfortable than the last time Dick had seen him, so that was good, although he was still on constant alert, his eyes darting around to possible escape routes. Dick pitied the poor kid, he’d had to have been through hell being Talia’s son and then finding out suddenly that Bruce is his father, it can’t have been easy. Dick tried to think of what to say to the kid when Alfred returned with tea.

“Master Bruce said he’d come home as soon as he can,” Alfred informed Dick.

Dick shook his head, “He should really just focus on running his damn company,” he muttered and then sighed, “Well, I guess that means we get to hang out, little dude.”

Damian froze in his spot, cup lifted to his lips before he slowly lowered it and cautiously eyed Dick. “Hang out?”

“Yep,” Dick said, standing up abruptly. “We can do some sparring if you’d like?”

Damian seemed to consider it for a long moment, Dick hoping he’d take the invitation as he had no idea what else to do with the kid. Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion, “I suppose that wouldn’t be a terrible idea.”

Dick grinned down at the boy and they both made their way down to the cave. Once they got down to the training area and had changed into more appropriate clothing, they stood opposite each other on the large mat. 

“You ready to go down, little D?” Dick taunted with a smirk.

Damian tilted his head, “ _Little D_?” He narrowed his eyes at the man across from him who simply shrugged the name off as Damian shook his head in disbelief. “I refuse to go down easily.”

Dick chuckled, easily falling into a fighting stance, feet spread apart, core held tight and hands held up. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Damian followed suit, copying Dick’s stance and readying himself. Dick smirked and lunged forward, trying to catch Damian off-guard which succeeded, somewhat. Damian dodged but wasn’t quite fast enough as Dick’s strike clipped his shoulder. 

Damian made a face before turning to Dick and sending a roundhouse kick to Dick’s side. It would’ve solidly hit if Dick hadn’t twisted away. He caught Damian’s arm as he threw a punch at Dick, sweeping the kid’s arm down and then back up behind his back. He went to ask if the kid gave up but before he got the chance, Damian sent his head back hard, Dick letting his arm go and then receiving a swift elbow to the gut. 

——————————

Bruce watched, a small smile on his face.

“Is this what you were hoping for? Inviting Master Dick to the manor?” Alfred asked Bruce.

He shook his head, “Actually, no. I wanted Dick to come so I could have a conversation about how to better talk to the kid and help him open up but looks like Dick already has that covered.” Bruce couldn’t help the warm feeling in his chest, watching his eldest and youngest spar, both wearing comfortable smiles. 

“And?” Alfred asked, turning to look at Bruce fully, “What of Master Timothy?”

Bruce sighed, running a tired hand down his face, “He’ll be back from his mission tomorrow, just on time to help us out with this situation here too.”

Alfred nodded approvingly, “About time we had a family dinner.”

Bruce wasn’t sure he was quite ready for the chaos that that statement would entail but he figured the more help they had with the current case, the better. May as well call everyone back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just wanted to say thanks for reading this, I know it's not the best, I really didn't put too much thought into it when writing it and I think it shows, especially in the beginning but oh well, this was really self-indulgent and I've really enjoyed writing it. It's my first long fic and one of my first fics in general, and although there are a lot of things I want to change, I'm really happy that I got to write this. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy <3


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